Types of Flaws (Arguments/ Thinking Skills)

REASONING FLAWS

- Ad Hominem -
Attacking the person-argument directed at the person rather the argument
Ex.) Congress should raise the minimum wage so that workers aren’t exploited.
Reply-Nonsense, you only say that because you can’t find a good job.

- Generalization -
An informal fallacy; reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence and making a hasty conclusion.
Ex.) I once knew a guy who killed his dog because he thought he could gain special powers this way. The same guy also watched a lot of fantasy cartoons. Therefore cartoons will make you kill your dog.

- Appeal to Flattery -
Flattery is presented in the place of evidence for accepting a claim.
Ex.)Might I say that this is the best Thinking Skills class I've ever taken. By the way, about those points I need to get an A...

- Bandwagon -
A threat of rejection by one's peers( peer pressure) is substituted for evidence in an argument.
Ex.) KYLE: Hey ! You may like to listen to heavy metal in your free time but we don't do that sort of thing here.
JOHN: Ha-ha. I was just kidding! I don't listen to heavy metal!

- Begging the Question -
When the premises include the claim that the conclusion is true or assume that the conclusion is true.
Ex.) Kim Kardashian is famous for being famous.

- Slippery Slope -
A person asserts that some event must inevitably fallow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question. Ex.) Once I let you drive my car, you'll want to keep riding my car and want to depend on me. Soon you'll stop exercising and get out of shape because you want me to bring you everywhere. Once you stop excising you'll get fat and die from high cholesterol. Therefore, I am saving your life by forcing you to walk.

- Straw man -
When a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position.
Ex.) All alcohol drinkers are stupid. They destroy their bodies with alcohol even though they know they shouldn't.

- Composition -
When a conclusion is drawn about a whole based on the features of its constituents when, in fact, no justification is provided for the interference.
Ex.)Atoms cannot be seen by the naked eye. My car is made of atoms, so it can't be seen by the naked eye.

- Two Wrongs Make a Right -
A person justifies an action against a person by asserting that the person would do the same thing to him/her, when the action is not necessary to prevent B from doing X to A.
Ex.) I borrowed a watch from my friend. I know I should give it back, but she still hasn't returned my other watch. So I guess I will keep this one.

- Red Herring -
An irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue.
Ex.) We are running out of money and need donations. But the kids in Africa get more money than we do so you should send some to them also.

- Confusing Cause and Correlation -
When a person assumes that one event must cause another just because the events occur together.
Ex.) I wore a red shirt when I took a test last class, and I got a 100 on it ! I'm going to wear another red shirt so I can get another 100!

- Questionable Cause -
An error in reasoning to conclude that one thing causes another simply because the two are associated on a regular basis.
Ex.) I got a chain letter and read it. It told me about my misfortune tonight. I don't believe in that type of things so I ignored it. Last night, I fell off my bed and got a concussion so I decided to forward that message to 20 other people to remove my bad luck