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Logical Fallacies

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A logical fallacy is an argument that may sound convincing or true but is actually

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flawed.

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Different Fallacies

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Ad Hominem: Attack the person instead of the argument. E.g. Politicians attacking
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background of opponent instead of the issue being discussed.

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Straw Man: Misrepresenting the other side’s argument so that it is easier to break.
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E.g. Two people discussing economic challenges:

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• Person 1: There are many problems with our current system.
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• Person 2: So, you recommend we select an incompetent person as the next

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President, then?
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Red Herring: Distracting from the issue being discussed.

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• Politician 1: There are many problems with our current system.
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• Politician 2: The weather is really bad today.

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Slippery Slope: One event will lead to a series of events, eventually being really bad.
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Hasty Generalization: On the basis of 1 instance/ 1 person’s experience, you

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generalize the rule for everyone.

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• I had a wonderful experience with meditation. Everyone should meditate for an

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hour daily.
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Middle Ground: The compromise between two extreme positions/ opposite positions
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is the right way. E.g.

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• Person 1: Women should get right to vote.

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Person 2: Women should not get right to vote.

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• Middle Ground: Give right to vote to women having net worth over INR 1 crore.
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Ad Populum/ Appeal to Numbers: Just because a large number of people are doing
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it, something is good. E.g. Democracy.

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Appeal to Authority: When you rely on some authoritative figure’s statements,

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without knowing the reasons for them. E.g. Sachin is the god of cricket. So, whatever
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he says should happen in the Indian cricket team.

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Appeal to Emotions: Using emotions, rather than merit of the argument to convince
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someone of your argument.

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Faulty Analogy: Just because two things are at a similar place/position, if one does
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something, other should also do the same thing.

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Cause and Effect: Three fallacies of-

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• Alternate Cause: The actual reason is something different than what you have
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thought.
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• Correlation: Just because two things happened together, one must have

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happened because of the other.

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• Sequence: Just because two things happened in time one after another, one

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must have happened because of the other.

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Circular Reasoning: You cannot identify the initial cause. E.g. Chicken or the egg.
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