Defining Various Logical Fallacies - Essay Example

This fallacy involves two steps, which include attacking the character of the author of the claim made and taking the attack as evidence against the argument made by the author in question, (Mills & Hard pressed Poetry, 2002). The following represents an example of this kind of fallacy, “I believe polygamy is outdated”.

Red Herring involves the presentation of an irrelevant topic to divert attention from the initial subject matter. The underlying idea in this fallacy is to influence a win through leading the attention away from the claim to another subject (Mills & Hard pressed Poetry, 2002). Consider the following example: Argument: for making the graduate school requirement stricter: I suppose there is an immense advantage in making the requirements of the graduate students stricter. I advocate that you add weight to it support it, too. After all, we are undergoing a budget predicament and we need not have our salaries affected. 

Pseudo-questions provide a biased exchange by asking a question that has an unfounded supposition constructed right into the question to manipulate the answer given (Mills & Hard pressed Poetry, 2002). The following example presents this fallacy: Have you ceased caning your wife? This becomes a pseudo-question when the accused is either not married or married but has never caned her. This is because the yes or no answer would be incorrect.

False cause is committed when an argument attempts to determine the causal connection by mistake. There are two primary interrelated types. They include Post hoc ergo propter hoc which involves an argument that one event was caused by another just because it happened after the said event. In addition, the causal connections are hard to determine and the Non-Causa pro-Causa which implies no cause for a cause (Mills & Hard pressed Poetry, 2002). Consider the following example: “Napoleon became a renowned emperor due to his shortness”. This is just wrong because in the case of causal inference then all the short people would become emperors.

Sweeping generalizations is a kind of fallacy where an author applies a supposition in an unwanted position. It involves using a common statement in a more general manner (Mills & Hard pressed Poetry, 2002). Consider the following example: “Christians generally dislike alcohol. You are a Christian, so you dislike drunkards”.

Slippery slope involves an assertion from a person that a certain occurrence must predictably follow from another without any claim for the predictability of the occurrence in question (Mills & Hard pressed Poetry, 2002). Consider the following example, “We have to end tuition! The subsequent thing, they will increase the charges to $30,000 per semester”.

Equivocation is committed when a certain term is applied in two or more diverse senses within a single claim (Mills & Hard pressed Poetry, 2002). Consider the following example:
- Christianity attributes to the significance of faith for salvation,
- Faith is irrational as it's a belief contrary to the evidence.

Consequently, Christianity instructs that irrationality be compensated.