Monthly Archives: January 2013

Fallacy of The General Rule:  Asserting that because something is generally true, it must be true in the specific. Refutation: General rules are just that – generally true of most of the cases. They do not claim absolute truth over … Continue reading →

Fallacy of Composition:  Asserting that what is true of one of the parts of a complex thing is also equally true of the whole of the complex thing. Refutation: A quality of a part of a complex thing may be … Continue reading →

Appeal to Force (Argumentum Ad Baculum): Threatening some type of harm. Refutation: Threats or coercion do not truly make anyone right.  Example –  Adam:  Bob, if I can’t convince you of my position on marijuana use with logic, I guess … Continue reading →

Likening Congress to a family arguing that it can improve its credit rating by deciding not to pay its credit card bill, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday that raising the legal borrowing limit was not the same as authorizing … Continue reading →

Ultimate Fallacy (Pigheadedness):  Refusal to listen to an argument or discuss any further. Refutation: There are none. Example –   Bob:  Abby, don’t even begin to give me your reasons for your position on contraceptive use. I’ve made up my mind … Continue reading →

Special Pleading:  Consciously leaving relevant information out of an argument because including it would weaken the argument. Refutation: All relevant information needs to brought to table.  Example –  Bob:  Abby, The use of abortion as a birth control is safe … Continue reading →

Irrelevant Information:  Bringing in information that has no direct bearing on the subject in an attempt to confuse the opponent’s argumentation. Refutation:  Stay focused on the subject and the facts that are relevant to the argument. Example –  Betty:  Adam, … Continue reading →

Hypothesis Contrary To Fact: Beginning an argument with a hypothetical statement in which the antecedent (the   historically possible situation) is generally known to be false (it never happened).  Refutation: From a logical perspective, you cannot negate the “if” portion … Continue reading →

Circular Reasoning (Petitio Principi):  Having the truth of the conclusion already apparent in one of the premises. Refutation: You cannot prove something by stating it twice.  Example:  Abby: Bob, contraceptive use must be ethically acceptable because the prevention of pregnancy … Continue reading →