Examples of Fallacies
Examples of fallacies can be found in verbal arguments or persuasive writing. Fallacies are misconceptions that are made in many ways and can be hard to spot because they sound logical. They are, by definition, deceitful.
Fallacy
The word “fallacy” comes from the Latin “fallac” or “fallax” meaning “deceitful.” The Latin word “fallere” means “to deceive.” It is a false idea or a seemingly plausible argument that is using false reasoning. Examples of fallacies can come from basing a conclusion on a premise that is not true, like “ She always tells the truth because she said so.” The premise could be faulty because she may be lying. Another way to be deceitful is to overwhelm your listener with so many words, that they assume you have a valid argument. You seem to have so much material that seems to be well-researched, that your listener may believe you without properly thinking it through.
Examples of Fallacies
Following are many examples of fallacies along with a brief explanation:
An example of a sweeping generalization would be: “Cutting people is bad. Doctors cut people, so doctors are bad.” The problem with this is that it is only bad to cut people some of the time.
A hasty generalization is: “Everyone I have met speaks French, so all people must speak French.” You can not know this unless you have met all people.
An example of an irrelevant conclusion, which draws attention away from a fact, is: “The president thinks the war is justifiable, so it must be justifiable.” The problem is that the president may be wrong.
To affirm the consequent means you draw a conclusion that is illogical, as in: “When it rains, the ground gets wet. The ground is wet, so therefore, it rained.” Rain is only one way the ground can get wet.
When a premise denies the antecedent, one conclusion does not support the other. Example: “If it is snowing, then it is cloudy. Since it is not snowing, it is not cloudy.” It can be cloudy and not snow.
Non sequitur, or false cause, means you incorrectly assume one thing caused another. There are two examples of fallacies of this type: “I am going to pass this test because I am wearing my lucky necklace.” There is no cause and effect there. Another example is: More cows die in the summer. People eat more ice cream in the summer, so eating more ice cream in the summer is killing cows.
A loaded question will have two questions in one, like: “Is it true that you no longer take drugs?” If you say, “yes” it means you once took drugs. If you say, “no”, then you still take drugs.
A straw man argument misrepresents the opponent’s statement, as in: 1st person, “Sunny days are good.” 2nd person, “If all days were sunny, it would never rain and we would all die, so you are wrong.”
When you use a word in two different ways, it is equivocation. An example is: “Heavy things have a large mass. This fog is heavy, so this fog has large mass.” Heavy has two meanings.
When you argue with innuendo, you imply a conclusion without actually saying it. For example, “he was never caught stealing money from my purse” implies that he is guilty, but was never caught. The statement was not directly negative.
Fallacy of composition is comparing a part to a whole, like “all the members of the band are very skilled, so the band is very skilled.” They may not be skilled in the same style of music. That is like saying all the parts of a car are in the garage, so the car is in the garage.
Division also deals with comparing a part to a whole. Example: This cereal is part of a healthy breakfast, so it is healthy.” A breakfast could be considered healthy when you look at it as a whole and not each part separately.