Argumentation And Debate - Fallacies

An argument that is invalid or otherwise so seriously flawed as to render it unreliable

Arguing from ignorance

The Continuum Fallacy

Question Begging

Falsely assuming that a conclusion can be reached on the basis of the absence of evidence

(Because there is no hard evidence violent TV impacts children, we must assume there is no evidence)

A false assumption that qualitative changes along a line of progression do not occur without agreement about exactly where such changes occur

(Poverty is meaningless bc we can't distinguish where the exact 'poverty line' is)

A fallacy that assumes that a debatable question can be treated as already answered

(Do we want 4 more years of liberal leadership?)

Ad Hominem Fallacy

Poisoning the Well

Tu Quoque Fallacy

Ad Populum Fallacy

An intentional effort to attack a person rather than an argument, by damaging an opponent's character or reputation or by engaging in name-calling and labeling

(That Tree-hugging environmentalist can't balance a budget)

Dismissing an individual as unqualified to speak on a topic based on some accident of circumstance

(You can't know anything about raising kids, you don't have any)

Falsely reasoning that someone who is guilty of an offense has no right to instruct others not to do something similar

(How can you tell me to study harder when you weren't a good student?)

Appealing to the audience and its sentiments rather than to the merits of an argument

Straw Man Fallacy

Majoring on Minors

Underdescription

Responding to a weakened version of an opponent's case

A fallacy that focuses attention on minor or inconsequential details to draw attention away from important ones

(This health care plan doesn't spell out precise levels of coverage for some treatments therefore it is dismissable)

Fallacy of creating a false sense of meaning by failing to fully describe a proposal or a crucial component in an opponent's case

(Closing factories is 'simply a cost-cutting measure' when it really will cost 2000 people's jobs)

Paralepsis

Selection Fallacy

Arrangement Fallacy

Recognized methods of expressing a meaning indirectly

The strategy of making a claim about an issue by stating that you will not bring up that issue or that the matter is insignificant

(My opponent has his wife on his payroll, and I would never criticize his choice to do so, but I have never done that)

Promoting a false interpretation by presenting only some of the relevant evidence in a case, while intentionally excluding other evidence that would contradict the suggested interpretation

(Girl with book in debate)

The Fallacy that creates a false impression by ordering, associating, or grouping items in a misleading way

(If the governor's state had been a fortune 500 company, it would have been ranked 301st, between Land O' Lakes Butter and Campbell Soup!)

An appeal that asks an audience to recognize an idea as either self-contradictory or as so unreasonable as to be absurd

(Because police can't prevent crime, they therefore create crime, therefore we should dismantle the police)