TYPES OF FALLACIES
adapted from S. E. Toulmin, R. Rieke, S. Janik.  Introduction to Reasoning. Prentice Hall, 1984.
 

A.  MISSING GROUNDS

• circularity:

• "begging the question" (grounds = claim)   

•  circular definition

B.  IRRELEVANT GROUNDS  (using grounds that have a special appeal to the audience)

• evading the issue:

• "red herring"

• "straw man"  

• slippery slope/extension  

• tu quoque 

• appeal to tradition  (unchallengeable authority) religion, tradition, science, etc.

• ad hominem (name calling, guilt by assoc, motive)  

• ad populi (to the people)
   

• emotion/compassion - pity, fear

• shifting grounds - shifting the burden of proof

• two wrongs...  

• ignorance (of counter evidence)  

C.  DEFECTIVE GROUNDS

• hasty generalization:  

• too few cases

• unrepresentative cases

• accident (applying a rule as if it MUST ALWAYS be used)

D.  UNWARRANTED ASSUMPTIONS

• false cause

• post hoc ergo propter hoc

• single cause

• false analogy
   

• poisoned well ("COMMON SENSE tells us ..." - "INFORMED voters believe...")

• dilemma/dichotomy ("either ‑ or")   

• composition / division

E.  Language Fallacies

• emotive (loaded) language

• equivocation / ambiguity
   

 [ Fallacies in italics are not mentioned in the text ]