1. LOGICAL FALLACIES LOGICAL FALLACIES the above link gives you an introduction to the issue Common Mistakes in Weak Arguments

2. Introduction: Nine Fallacies  Emotionally Loaded Terms  Ad Hominem  Faulty Cause and Effect (Post Hoc ergo propter hoc )  Either/Or Reasoning ( Bifurcation)  Hasty Generalization  False Analogy  Begging the Question (Circular Reasoning or Tautology )  Non Sequitar (“It does not follow)  Oversimplification

3. RHETORICAL APPEALS: USING LOGOS, ETHOS, PATHOS  LOGOS = LOGIC and REASON= Soundness of facts, evidence, statistics, and reasoning; soundness of authority’s statements outside self; well-documented evidence  ETHOS = Credibility and reliability of writer him/herself; character and reputation of the author  PATHOS = EMOTION = Appeal to needs, values, and attitudes; uses the emotional power of language

4. Definition Logical fallacies are flaws in reasoning that lead to faulty, illogical statements. They are unreasonable argumentative tactics named for what has gone wrong during the reasoning process.

5. Most logical fallacies masquerade as reasonable statements, but they are in fact attempts to manipulate readers by reaching their emotions instead of their intellects.

6. Fallacy: Emotionally Loaded Terms Example: You slowly poison your children when you feed them fast food. Definition: Using emotionally charged words to distract the reader from the real argument (a type of red herring).

7. Emotionally Loaded Arguments Offer too Blatant an Appeal to Emotions  Appeal to emotions manipulates people’s emotions in order to get their attention away from an important issue.  You commit the fallacy of appeal to emotions when someone’s appeal to you to accept their claim is accepted merely because the appeal arouses your feelings or anger, fear, grief, love, outrage, pity, pride, sexuality, sympathy, relief, and so forth.

8. Ad Hominem Latin for to the man Directly attacks someone’s appearance, personal habits, or character rather than focusing on the merit of the issue at hand. The implication is that if something is wrong with this person, whatever he/she says must be wrong. How can you say he’s a good musician when he’s been in and out of rehab for three years?

9. Ad Hominem – Making it Personal Sara is divorced, so whatever relationship advice she gives you can’t be good. It is the suggestions, not the person who makes them that deserve attention. Sara’s marital status has nothing to do with the quality of her advice. Isn’t it also possible that Sara could be married and give awful advice? If my husband forgot to wash his dish, I would move out too. You did the right thing, Carol.

11. Post Hoc Fallacy Faulty cause-and-effect reasoning Just because two events occur in close proximity does not mean that one is necessarily related to the other. Example: After President Clinton took office, the economy stabilized. Obviously the Clinton Administration’s fiscal policies were effective. Example: A black cat crossed Babbs' path yesterday and, sure enough, she was involved in an automobile accident later that same afternoon.

12. Does the Cause Equal the Effect?

13. Either – Or / False Dilemma A false dilemma asserts that a complex situation can have only two possible outcomes and that one of the options is necessary or preferable. Either go to college or forget about making money. This falsely implies that a college education is a pre-requisite for financial success. Was it her college education that made Britney tons of money?

14. http://www.cafepress.com Either/Or

15. Hasty Generalization A hasty generalization is a conclusion based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence. Stereotyping and Sexism are forms of this fallacy. Take, for example common dumb blonde jokes: Q: What do you call a blonde skeleton in the closet? A: Last year's hide-and-go-seek winner.

16. Example of a Generalization The only redheads I know are rude. Therefore, all redheads must have bad manners. If the speaker only knows two redheads, then he has insufficient evidence to make the general claim about all people with that hair color.

17. False Analogy An analogy points out similarities in things that are otherwise different. A false analogy claims comparison when differences outweigh similarities. Essentially, it’s comparing apples and oranges!

18. False Analogy Example If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we find the cure for the common cold? While both things being compared here are related to science, there are more differences than similarities between space and biological advancements.

19. False Analogy (Continued)

20. Begging the Question This is a kind of circular argument where the support only restates the claim. Wrestling is dangerous because it is unsafe. Jogging is fun because it is enjoyable. Unsafe means the same thing as dangerous and fun means the same thing as enjoyable. This makes the reasoning circular.

21. Circular reasoning http://www.cafepress.com

22. Non Sequitur (Does Not Follow)  A conclusion that does not follow logically from preceding statements or that is based on irrelevant data: Mary loves children, so will make an excellent school teacher.

23. Non Sequitar (continued)

24. Oversimplification  This fallacy occurs when a series of actual causes are reduced to the point where there is no longer a genuine connection between the cause and effect.  Often a result of trying not to bog a reader down with too many details, but oversimplification can lead you down bad roads.  For example, –School violence has gone up and academic performance has gone down ever since racial segregation was banned. Therefore, segregation should be reintroduced, resulting in school improvement.

25. Oversimplification  Oversimplifying. Giving easy, smug, or pat answers to complicated questions, sometimes by appealing to emotion rather than logic. Examples: “Guns don’t kill-people do” is an overly simple but popular argument against gun control. It sounds good but it doesn’t address the complex problem that the availability of guns poses in our society.

26. Logical Fallacies  These fallacies of argument can effectively incite action as well as be the type of material filling up banners, stickers, and especially, advertisements. However, as intellectuals we are expected to bring an equal measure of logic and passion to our decisions. Therefore, keep an eye out for these fallacies as the television or computer is likely exposing these to you right now!