Reasoning and Logical Fallacies

REASONING AND LOGICAL FALLACIESWHEN PEOPLE EVADE AN ARGUMENT

INDUCTIVE REASONINGFacts and examples are used to decide on a next step, draw a conclusion, or make a correct generalization.

DEDUCTIVE REASONINGMake a general statement and then look for specific examples that match the general statement.

LOGICAL FALLACIES• Type 1: Avoid the Issue• Type 2: Omit Key Points• Type 3: Ignore Other Alternatives

AVOIDING THE ISSUE• Name Calling or Ad Hominem• Circular Reasoning or Begging the Question• Evade or Dodge the Issue

OMITTING KEY POINTS• Oversimplification• Overgeneralization

IGNORING OTHER ALTERNATIVES• Either/Or• Slippery Slope• False Cause• False Analogy• False Authority

AD HOMINEM (AKA NAME CALLING)• This type of logical fallacy does exactly what its name

suggests.• Calling someone stupid instead of responding to an

argument.

CIRCULAR REASONING: BEGGING THE QUESTION• A person says the same thing they already said, but uses

different words.• “Hats in schools should be prohibited because hats are

not allowed in schools.”

EVADING THE ISSUE• When someone is making an argument, and he or she

gives supporting examples or reasons that do not support the main idea being argued, he or she is evading the issue.

• “Our football coach should be replaced. Our baseball coach is great.”

OVERSIMPLIFICATION• When someone omits, or leaves out, important key ideas

when making an argument.• “Fast food restaurants are the cause of overweight people

in America.”

OVERGENERALIZATION• Another example of important key ideas being omitted in

an argument• Signal words for overgeneralization: always, totally,

completely, never, etc.• “My mom never understands me.”

EITHER/OR• All alternatives are not offered in an argument• There is only an either/or choice given• “You either get your homework done now, or you won’t

get it done at all.”

SLIPPERY SLOPE• When an argument suggests that one thing will lead to

something else, when in reality it may not.• “If I let Adam eat a brownie, I’ll have to let your other

brothers and sisters have anything they want.”

FALSE CAUSE• When someone argues that something causes something

when it really does not.• “The water overflowed in the bathtub because the TV was

on.”

FALSE ANALOGY• When someone makes a comparison that doesn’t make

sense• “My father can’t make up his mind. He is like a teenager.”

FALSE AUTHORITY• If someone uses an “expert” to prove a point, the “expert”

must actually be that.• One cannot use an “expert opinion” if the “expert” is not

an expert in the topic being discussed.• “Japan’s killing of whales makes the ocean cleaner,”

reported Rufus Rockhead, Ph.D. in Geology.