List of Fallacies
Dicto Simpliciter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0_wp5zyHqA
“There’s nothing I won’t do for my child” is a dicto simpliciter- because there are some things we will not
do, like this. We have to qualify what we mean.
Post Hoc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR_UYx4vSPs
What does laughter have to do with Volkswagen? Nothing. The implied point is that you will laugh a lot
if you are a Volkswagen owner. The two are not connected.
Bandwagon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDm6iKH38C0&feature=relmfu
This is a very cool baby. If you want to be cool and do what everyone else who is cool is doing, you will
use etrade.com to manage your portfolio.
Non Sequitur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuNihdGBu8k
Getting a possum instead of a dog will not save you as much money as being smart about your car
insurance premiums. This just “doesn’t follow.”
Bonus Non Sequitur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_LtwCtBEo4
What does eating tuna have to do with sucking in? It does not follow that if you eat tuna you will not
have to suck in to look sexy.
Poisoning the Well/Ad Hominem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IpIuOmDihA
Ouch. Romney’s millions in a Swiss bank account has nothing to do with whether or not he could run
the country.
Hypothesis Contrary to Fact
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZMZdQzoQgo&feature=related
If you were going to buy a radio by these guys, you would not have a zombie in your backseat. They
cannot prove this would happen, which is what they are suggesting.
False Analogy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBSt1CtJEOk&feature=relmfu
People who are happy with their car insurance provider are not remotely like bodybuilders directing
traffic. This is a false analogy because one has nothing to do with the other.
Bonus False analogy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSIkjNaICsg
Appeal to Anonymous Authority
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leApAawSvkI
Who is this “they” Tebow is talking about? “They” obviously were wrong, as are many anonymous
authorities.
Straw Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZxs09eV-Vc
Romney isn’t going after Big Bird. Obama is making Romney look irrelevant and ridiculous, when what
Romney is saying is that he will cut our debt down in different ways than Obama would (PBS being
probably an off-the-top-of-his-head example).
Slippery Slope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7udQSHWpL88
This would never happen. Could it? Yes. Slippery slope. Stupid, but funny.
Appeal to Fear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kabPKfoJf8k
Do not speed or you will kill people and go to jail. So says this commercial, anyway.
Argument by Rhetorical Question
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCK6wQ0BoxI
These questions are silly and the answer is always “yes” in our heads, so we don’t stop to think whether
or not people who switch to Geico have cause to be happy—just that the answer to his first question is
the same as the answer to his last one.
Argument by Emotive Language
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26AMgycOWoU
Look at the Statue of Liberty, the American flag everywhere, Romney holding a baby. He is appealing to
your sense of patriotism and pathos.
Begging the Question/Circular Reasoning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH-KaEZ7uxs
Everybody dances, so everyone should dance. Hmm… circular logic to me!
Argument by Half-Truth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJJL5dxgVaM
They aren’t telling you that this would more than likely get you fired. But their argument is that people
would come together to achieve a common goal, which is possible.
Appeal to Force
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRQyS_8sShw&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Darth Vader is forcing his friends to let him win. This is not logical. It’s “making” yourself right.
Hasty Generalization
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX-wYGK4ius
Just because this one woman’s marriage worked, it does not mean that it will work for everyone. As a
matter of fact, probably it wouldn’t work for very many women I know.
Contradictory Premises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=718nPq-xEG0
This commercial talks about having your cake and eating it too. You cannot have both. They say they
have both a fast car and a high performing one. Are they considered mutually exclusive? If they are,
this commercial is committing the fallacy of contradictory premises.
Red Herring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbVa0cPAJ1g
This commercial even makes fun of itself by showing a “red herring” item on the shelf at the beginning.
What does Toy Story have to do with paying for something at the grocery store with a Visa card?
Absolutely nothing. They are distracting you from their real argument (which isn’t really apparent in this
commercial… why should we use Visa debit?) by making you think about Toy Story.
Argument by Question
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msfhJtJd1KA
Not necessarily an exact example of this fallacy, but it does show that interviewers can manipulate
(fairly or unfairly) the way their audience receives the guest. In politics, this is very important and
happens all the time. If they like the guy, they edit out the gum and the phone. If they don’t, they keep
it.
Ad Misericordiam/Appeal to Pity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQKk3PI-DW8
Heh.. well, this ad could be many things. But if we focus on the super robot’s argument that we can’t
fire him because his life will be terrible and he won’t be able to get another job, it’s a fallacy. The fact is
that he is hired to make quality products and he doesn’t. He should be fired if he can’t do his job,
especially since he’s a robot.