Logical Fallacies

Ad Hominem
An argument that attacks the speaker not the argument
Bill: "Bush's Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 helped many US citizens."
Harry:"...But George Bush was an idiot!"

Appeal to Authority
A superior is always right and everything they say and do is right
"An expert on television said Fianna Fáil will repeat the same mistakes so that means they will if there are ever reelected"

Appeal to Ignorance
No contractible evidence so it must be true
"I cannot prove God exits, so he must exist"

Appeal to pity
The person who is arguing tries to get people on there side
By appealing to there sympathy
"I broke my leg so I should get an A for the test I missed"

Argumentum and Populum
If everyone supports the argument, it can't be wrong.
"100 million Americans support the right to bear arms so must be a good idea"

Begging the question
The conclusion is in the premise
"The belief in God is universal, after all every one believes in God"

Common Cause
A fallacy that P causes Q because P and Q are regularly grouped together
"Rap music causes gun crimes because rappers are always getting shot@

False-Cause Fallacy
A happened, B happened, A must have caused B.
"I broke my nose, and then I got a cold. My broken nose must have caused me to get a cold"

Middle Ground
Between two extremes, the middle ground must be correct.
"Sinn Fein wants to pay none of the 80 billion loan back to the IMF; Fianna Gail wants to pay it all back. The right amount must be 40 billion"

Novelty
Newer is better
"Fianna Gail is new in power, they must be better than the alternative"

Red Herring
A deliberate attempt to divert attention away from the actual argument
"Enda Kenny would be a failure as a Taoiseach. He is also receiving a 100k pension for being a teacher for only four years."

Slippery Slope
Some justifiable arguments now can lead to unjustifiable ones later on.
"Lenihan’s plan for paying tax by credit card could be ‘slippery slope’ to debt & poverty"

Straw man
An argument is based on a distorted view of an opponent’s position
"It is Fine Gael’s policy to end the Irish language as a compulsory subject for students in schools in the Irish educational system. This is incorrect, if reports are accurate. The FG policy is to retain it as a compulsory subject for the Junior Cert (which is the period of compulsory education) and have it as an option for Leaving Cert"

Weak Analogy
Comparing a weak analogy between the two arguments.
"James Connolly and Adolf Hitler were both evil because they were both socialists"