Therefore, broccoli is gross.” An argument that circles in on itself like this is a common fallacy. Popularity: E.g., “Everyone loves bacon, therefore it’s good for you!” Just because something is popular does not make it true.Īppeal to Authority: E.g., “Cheetoh is the President, therefore he’s right about everything.” Authorities are mistaken as well, so just because they say so doesn’t make it right.Ĭircular Argument without Substance: E.g., “Broccoli is gross. See? It does! 2 + 2 = 5.” Repeating a falsehood does not make it true. Repetition makes it true: E.g., “2 + 2 = 5. Thus, there is no such thing as gravity.” Just because somebody makes a bad argument for a true thing does not lessen the truth of the issue.Īppeal to emotions: E.g., “If you have a heart, you’ll agree with me.” Emotions sometimes have nothing to do with the truth of a matter. You say that gravity exists, and it is the force that makes a car’s brakes work.
The “can’t prove it false” fallacy is another distraction.Ī bad argument disproves a point: E.g., “Your particular argument is illogical, so your entire point is mistaken. That doesn’t mean that gravity is not a real and verifiable law of physics. Think of the law of gravity: we can prove that it is an actual physical force, but we cannot prove that it is false. Personal attacks are distractions from the actual argument.Ĭan’t prove false: E.g., “My assertion is true because you cannot prove that it’s not!” Lots of things cannot be proven false, but that doesn’t mean they’re not able to be proven true. We then learned from astronomy that that is false.Īd Hominem (Latin: Against the Person”): If someone debating you says, “You’re wrong because you’re ugly”, that’s an ad hominem argument - a personal attack. For a long time, people believed that the Earth was the center of the cosmos. Status Quo (Latin: “As it is”): E.g., “Something is so because it’s always been that way.” Just because something has been so for a long time does not make it true. With that, let us briefly study the most common methods of fallacious distraction and deceit to ensure that we not only evade the trap they set for our minds but also to persevere to avoid such dark modes ourselves. It is crucial to demystify those forked magic words for they have the power to topple those who have allowed their sense of reason to sleep. While poor legal counsel or ignoble motivations may tempt even the innocent party in a dispute to sway from rectitude as the dispute unfurls and becomes more complicated over time, often in its first dramatic Act the stage of a Debate displays the spotlight on the hero while leaving the villain rightly in the shadows.įrom those shadows, the devil speaks in tempting fallacies. Yet in legal disputes large and small, whether they involve multinational corporations or bickering neighbors, criminal accusations or divorces, regardless of the nature of the debate, there is rarely a situation in which the paint of sin colors the faces of both sides of the argument, at least not at the start of it. Next thing you know, even her lawyer shows up to defend her! This is a classic “what the hell” moment, right? You yell, “thief!” She then turns around and scolds you for defaming her good name, yelling at all onlookers for help to defend herself from you! And there you find yourself arguing with her about her stealing your phone while she blatantly denies it and asserts that you must apologize for slandering her with the word “thief”. She steals your phone out of your hand and walks away with it. Imagine a situation, for example, where a woman comes up to you as you’re standing on the street talking on your smartphone. In my years of practicing the law, I have too often been struck by the ugly brashness with which opposing parties and their lawyers talk, write, act, negotiate, and litigate in the wrong, adding insult to injury. Whether the words used are simple or fancy, on one side in nearly every dispute there is a person who is right, and on the other side is a person who is just arguing for no good reason at all. “El sueño de la razón produce monstruos.”