Show Notes Special Pleading describes a situation where you have a rule that you apply to everyone else, but make up an excuse to explain why the rule doesn’t apply to you. When you are inconsistent in applying the rules in this way without a valid logical reason, you are using fallacious reasoning. We...
Show Notes This fallacy, sometimes called ‘Missing the Point’, is committed when someone provides evidence refuting or proving a point which is irrelevant to the issue at hand. This can often be a quite effective distraction, but as it does not address the real question, it remains fallacious. We started out with...
Show Notes Poisoning the Well is a kind of Ad Hominem fallacy where the attack on the person making a claim happens in advance. By attributing negative traits to someone before they even have the chance to make their argument, the well poisoner primes the listener not to believe what they are...
Show Notes Ad Hominem is Latin for 'to the man' and describes an argument where the focus of the attack is not on the views a person holds but on the person themselves. It is an attempt to distract from the matter at hand by introducing irrelevant details aimed at discrediting...
Show Notes When someone supports their argument by making a statement that is significantly more emphatic than can possibly be supported by evidence, they may be committing the Hyperbolic Fallacy. As a rule a hyperbole is not meant to be taken literally. When someone says they had the worst morning ever, you know they...
Show Notes Lying with Statistics can involve using highly specific numbers to make it seem like you know what you're talking about, using a true statistic out of context to bolster a particular point of view, or simply using made up statistics and hoping your opponent doesn't check them. We started out...
Show Notes The Slippery Slope fallacy is committed when a person assumes if one bad thing happens, then more, and often worse, bad things will inevitably follow. It is often applied to changes in the law that some groups are campaigning for, and others find distasteful. It is fallacious because to accept...
Show Notes When someone makes a strong argument that’s hard to refute, don’t despair. Simply pretend they made a different argument, that’s easier to knock down - you could massively oversimplify what they said, misrepresent the point of their argument, or just put words in their mouth. Congratulations! You’ve just constructed...
Show notes The Genetic Fallacy doesn’t have anything to do with genes. Rather, it relates to the ‘genesis’, or origin, of an argument. When someone commits the Genetic Fallacy they are basing their decision about whether a claim is true or false on who is making the claim, or where it...