13: Logical Fallacies, Part 1

Hey guys! Here's this week's episode. The art is Thomas Cole's "Prometheus Bound." You'll find this week's set of logical fallacies below the episode. Thanks for listening!

1. Ad Hominem (“Poisoning the Well”, “Pit Spitting”) - A fallacy of distraction that attacks an opponent's character when character is irrelevant to the argument.

2. Tu Quoque (“Appeal to Hypocrisy”) - A fallacy of distraction that attempts to discredit an opponent's conclusion by irrelevantly appealing to supposed hypocrisy between argument and actions.

3. Transfer (“Honor by Association”, “Preening”) - A fallacy of distraction that equates positive characteristics of a spokesman with their conclusion.

4. Ipse Dixit (“Irrelevant Authority”) - A fallacy of distraction that appeals to an irrelevant authority as justification for a conclusion.

5. Bulverism (“The Becausery”) - A fallacy of distraction that assumes an opponent's position is wrong by focusing the argument on how the opponent personally came to believe that position.

6. Genetic Fallacy (“Ancestral Stench”) - A fallacy of distraction that Rejects or accepts an argument solely because of the moral character of another, previous arguer.

7. Special Pleading (“Unjustified Exemption”) - A fallacy of distraction that argues for an exception to an accepted principle or standard without offering a justification.

8. Ad Baculum (“Appeal to Fear”, “Whooping”) - A fallacy of distraction that inappropriately attempts to persuade by means of threats.

9. Ad Populum (“Bandwagon”, “Lemming Parade”) - a fallacy of distraction that attempts to show the truth of a proposition by means of the sheer number of people who already have accepted it.

 

10. Ad Misericordiam (“Appeal to Pity”, “PitiPupping”) - a fallacy of distraction that attempts to distract from the truth or validity of an argument by appealing to pity.

11. Argument from Personal Incredulity (“Common Sense Fallacy”, “Divine Fallacy”) - a fallacy of distraction that denies a conclusion solely based on personal belief.

12. Chronological Snobbery (“Appeal to Tradition or Technology”, “Dinoshush”) - a fallacy of distraction that accepts or rejects an idea (or product, or book, etc.) solely based on its age.

13. Ad Ignorantiam (“Proof by Lack of Evidence”, “The Gullible Dogmatic”) - a fallacy of distraction that argues for a proposition by pointing to absence of evidence to the contrary.

14. Irrelevant Goals or Functions (“Argument from Consequences”) - a fallacy of distraction that irrelevantly critiques an idea for failing to do something it was never intended to do.

15. Irrelevant Thesis (“Ignoring the Issue”, “Ignoratio Elenchi”) - a fallacy of distraction that addresses a tangentially related (and perhaps valid) point that is not the point under discussion.

16. Straw Man (“Misrepresentation”, “Puppet beating”) - a fallacy of distraction that misrepresents or hyperbolizes an opponent's position to make it much easier to defeat

17. Red Herring (“Distraction by Reek”) - any fallacy of distraction that ultimately leads away from the truth of the matter.

These fallacies are compiled partially from The Amazing Dr. Ransom's Bestiary of Adorable Fallacies, by Doublas Wilson & N.D. Wilson, an excellent book on logic. The rest come from A Logic Book: Fundamentals of Reasoning, by Robert M. Johnson.