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well, in case your interested, (this is on my mind all the time):
Formal fallacies are arguments that are fallacious due to an error in their form or technical structure.
• Appeal to probability: because something could happen, it is inevitable that it will happen
• Argument from fallacy: if an argument for some conclusion is fallacious, then the conclusion must necessarily be false
• Bare assertion fallacy: premise in an argument is assumed to be true purely because it says that it is true.
• Base rate fallacy
• Conjunction fallacy
• Correlative based fallacies
• Denying the correlative: where attempts are made at introducing alternatives where there are none
• Suppressed correlative
• Fallacy of necessity: a degree of unwarranted necessity is placed in the conclusion based on the necessity of one or more of its premises
• False dilemma ("false dichotomy"): where two alternative statements are held to be the only possible options, when in reality there are several
• If-by-whiskey
• Homunculus fallacy
• Masked man fallacy: the substitution of identical designators in a true statement can lead to a false one
• Naturalistic fallacy
• Nirvana fallacy
• Negative proof fallacy: that because a premise cannot be proven true, that premise must be false
• Package-deal fallacy
[edit] Propositional fallacies
• Affirming a disjunct: concluded that one logical disjunction must be false because the other disjunct is true.
• Affirming the consequent: the antecedent in an indicative conditional is claimed to be true because the consequent is true. Has the form if A, then B; B, therefore A
• Denying the antecedent: the consequent in an indicative conditional is claimed to be false because the antecedent is false; if A, then B; not A, therefore not B
[edit] Quantificational fallacies
• Existential fallacy: an argument has two universal premises and a particular conclusion, but the premises do not establish the truth of the conclusion
• Illicit conversion: the invalid conclusion that because a statement is true, the inverse must be as well
• Proof by example
[edit] Formal syllogistic fallacies
Syllogistic fallacies are logical fallacies that occur in syllogisms.
• Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise
• Fallacy of exclusive premises: a categorical syllogism that is invalid because both of its premises are negative
• Fallacy of four terms: a categorical syllogism has four terms
• Illicit major: a categorical syllogism that is invalid because its major term is undistributed in the major premise but distributed in the conclusion
• Illicit minor: a categorical syllogism that is invalid because its minor term is undistributed in the minor premise but distributed in the conclusion.
• Fallacy of the undistributed middle: the middle term in a categorical syllogism is not distributed
• Categorical syllogism: an argument with a positive conclusion, but one or two negative premises
[edit] Informal fallacies
Informal fallacies are arguments that are fallacious for reasons other than structural ("formal") flaws.
• Argument from repetition (argumentum ad nauseam)
• Appeal to ridicule: a specific type of appeal to emotion where an argument is won by presenting the opponent's argument in a way that makes it appear ridiculous
• Argument from ignorance ("appeal to ignorance")
• Begging the question ("petitio principii"): where the conclusion of an argument is implicitly or explicitly assumed in one of the premises
• Burden of proof
• Circular cause and consequence
• Continuum fallacy (fallacy of the beard)
• Equivocation
• Fallacies of distribution
• Division: where one reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be true of all or some of its parts
• Ecological fallacy
• Fallacy of many questions (complex question, fallacy of presupposition, loaded question, plurium interrogationum)
• Fallacy of the single cause
• Historian's fallacy
• False attribution
• Fallacy of quoting out of context
• False compromise/middle ground
• Gambler's fallacy: the incorrect belief that the likelihood of a random event can be affected by or predicted from other, independent events
• Incomplete comparison
• Inconsistent comparison
• Loki's Wager
• Lump of labour fallacy (fallacy of labour scarcity, zero-sum fallacy)
• No true Scotsman
• Perfect solution fallacy: where an argument assumes that a perfect solution exists and/or that a solution should be rejected because some part of the problem would still exist after it was implemented
• Post hoc ergo propter hoc
• Proof by verbosity (argumentum verbosium)
• Regression fallacy
• Reification (hypostatization)
• Retrospective determinism (it happened so it was bound to)
• Special pleading: where a proponent of a position attempts to cite something as an exemption to a generally accepted rule or principle without justifying the exemption
• Suppressed correlative: an argument which tries to redefine a correlative (two mutually exclusive options) so that one alternative encompasses the other, thus making one alternative impossible
• Sunk cost fallacy
• Wrong direction
[edit] Faulty generalizations
• Accident (fallacy): when an exception to the generalization is ignored
• Cherry picking
• Composition: where one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some (or even every) part of the whole
• Dicto simpliciter
• Converse accident (a dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter): when an exception to a generalization is wrongly called for
• False analogy
• Hasty generalization (fallacy of insufficient statistics, fallacy of insufficient sample, fallacy of the lonely fact, leaping to a conclusion, hasty induction, secundum quid)
• Loki's Wager: insistence that because a concept cannot be clearly defined, it cannot be discussed
• Misleading vividness
• Overwhelming exception
• Spotlight fallacy
[edit] Red herring fallacies
A red herring is an argument, given in response to another argument, which does not address the original issue. See also irrelevant conclusion
• Ad hominem: attacking the personal instead of the argument
• Argumentum ad baculum ("appeal to force", "appeal to the stick"): where an argument is won through coercion or threats of force towards an opposing party
• Argumentum ad populum ("appeal to belief", "appeal to the majority", "appeal to the people"): where a proposition is claimed to be true solely because many people believe it to be true
• Association fallacy & Guilt by association
• Appeal to authority: where an assertion is deemed true because of the position or authority of the person asserting it
• Appeal to consequences: a specific type of appeal to emotion where an argument concludes a premise is either true or false based on whether the premise leads to desirable or undesirable consequences for a particular party
• Appeal to emotion: where an argument is won due to the manipulation of emotions, rather than the use of valid reasoning
• Appeal to fear: a specific type of appeal to emotion where an argument is won by increasing fear and prejudice towards the opposing side
• Wishful thinking: a specific type of appeal to emotion where a decision is made according to what might be pleasing to imagine, rather than according to evidence or reason
• Appeal to spite: a specific type of appeal to emotion where an argument is won through exploiting people's bitterness or spite towards an opposing party
• Appeal to flattery: a specific type of appeal to emotion where an argument is won due to the use of flattery to gather support
• Appeal to motive: where a premise is dismissed, by calling into question the motives of its proposer
• Appeal to novelty: where a proposal is claimed to be superior or better solely because it is new or modern
• Appeal to poverty (argumentum ad lazarum)
• Appeal to wealth (argumentum ad crumenam)
• Argument from silence (argumentum ex silentio)
• Appeal to tradition: where a thesis is deemed correct on the basis that it has a long standing tradition behind it
• Genetic fallacy
• Judgmental language
• Poisoning the well
• Straw man argument
• Texas sharpshooter fallacy
