Logic / Unit 8 Logic 376 short lesson, about 20 seconds
What Makes a Fallacy
Captions available
The idea
A fallacy is a pattern of reasoning that tends to persuade despite failing to support its conclusion. Recurrent, seductive, and wrong — all three.
In practice
One bad argument is a mistake. A pattern of persuasive mistakes earns a name.
Where people slip
"Fallacy" is a verdict about support, not about the conclusion's truth. Fallacious arguments can have true conclusions — supported by nothing.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- 377Formal vs. Informal Fallacies
- 378Ad Hominem, Abusive
- 381Appeal to Force
- 383Appeal to the People
- 384Appeal to Unqualified Authority
- 385Appeal to Ignorance
- 386Hasty Generalization
- 387Accident
- 389False Cause
- 391Weak Analogy
- 392Begging the Question
- 394False Dichotomy
- 395Suppressed Evidence
- 396Equivocation
- 398Composition
- 400Straw Man
- 404Special Pleading
- 407A Method for Fallacy Identification
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