Ask Your Questions About Logical Fallacies

Welcome! This is the place to ask the community of experts and other fallacyophites (I made up that word) if someone has a committed a fallacy or not. This is a great way to settle a dispute!


Dr. Bo's Criteria for Logical Fallacies:

  • It must be an error in reasoning not a factual error.
  • It must be commonly applied to an argument either in the form of the argument or in the interpretation of the argument.
  • It must be deceptive in that it often fools the average adult.
Therefore, we will define a logical fallacy as a concept within argumentation that commonly leads to an error in reasoning due to the deceptive nature of its presentation. Logical fallacies can comprise fallacious arguments that contain one or more non-factual errors in their form or deceptive arguments that often lead to fallacious reasoning in their evaluation.
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Non-Sequitur - Almost Certain?

This is actually something I posted a while ago on a debate forum after having one too many drinks. Anyway, my argument was: Maths is used in science. Therefore, Mathematics must be more useful than science. My answer to this is that just because M...

asked on Monday, Jan 27, 2020 04:54:25 PM by Jack
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Argument from simulation?

As far as I understand the situation, when it was found that simulations of galaxies operating on the force of gravity and mass alone did not output motions consistent with observations of actual galaxies, astrophysicists, rather than deciding that g...

asked on Saturday, Jan 25, 2020 10:18:04 PM by Daniel
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Legitimate us of Reductio ad Absurdum?

I recently engaged in a debate that was initially about Donald Trump. Then it digressed to a debate about rationality, reason, and logic. The latter part of this debate is what I was mostly interested in. Also, would be grateful if any other fallacie...

asked on Saturday, Jan 25, 2020 06:58:57 PM by Jack
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What's this fallacy - using the wrong tool/methodology

A homeopath offered a study which proves homeopathy works because they gave it to people and they got better. So far, so Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc. But the homeopath says they showed the improvement was caused by the treatment using the 'Modified Nar...

asked on Friday, Jan 24, 2020 11:11:14 AM by Jim Cliff
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Is the Fallacy of Composition a Fallacy of Ambiguity or a Fallacy of Insufficiency?

I have been experiencing difficulty understanding the classification of the fallacy of composition as a fallacy of ambiguity. To explain, I have read that there exist loose categories for informal fallacies: e.g. Fallacies of Irrelevance or Relevance...

asked on Thursday, Jan 23, 2020 06:02:10 PM by Ryan
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Begging the question?

Argument for Intelligent Design: Premise 1: Certain patterns in nature are only known to come from an intelligent agent. Premise 2: Those patterns are observed inside of a cell. Conclusion: An intelligent agent is responsible for those patterns. Is...

asked on Wednesday, Jan 22, 2020 03:07:24 PM by Brenda
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How to convince people they are being fallacious?

"Expose an irrational belief, keep a person rational for a day. Expose irrational thinking, keep a person rational for a lifetime." Every time I try and do this, people just seem to dig their heels in deeper. They seem to hate the fallacies...

asked on Saturday, Jan 18, 2020 11:14:31 AM by Jason Mathias
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Why Evolution is True Contest

Jerry Coyne over on Why Evolution is True posted a contest for an apt neologism, and I thought it would be fun to pass it on to fellow fallacyophites here. Neologism wanted by whyevolutionistrue I'm looking for readers to help invent a new word, sinc...

asked on Wednesday, Jan 15, 2020 04:05:27 PM by mchasewalker
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What Fallacy is this? Hasty generalization or Composition?

I owned two Chevy cars – a Cruze and a Malibu – and they gave me nothing but trouble. The choke and the batteries froze up and the clutches went out on both cars. They were always in the shop. Chevy’s are poorly constructed and should be avoide...

asked on Saturday, Jan 11, 2020 08:33:47 PM by Anna
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What fallacy is this? Appeal to extrmes, False Analogy or other?

I can't quite put my finger on it but I am almost certain this is a fallacy: The argument that "Homosexuality isn't a choice and therefore shouldn't be considered wrong" falls apart when you examine it in a relative manner. So let's take t...

asked on Thursday, Jan 09, 2020 06:46:12 PM by Jack
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