Flaws

Names and descriptions of flaws in Unit 2 Critical Thinking

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Ad hominem

1 of 22

Attacking the person you are arguing rather than attacking the arguement.

2 of 22

Circular Arguement

3 of 22

An arguement that starts and ends with the same point, and does not move forward.

4 of 22

Conflation

5 of 22

Treating two concepts that may be similar as if they are exactly the same.

6 of 22

Confusing necessary and sufficient conditions

7 of 22

What is necessary in a situation may not be sufficient (not enough).

8 of 22

False cause

9 of 22

Reasoning which assumes a causal connection between two events when there is likely to be some connection and many other explanations. 

10 of 22

Post Hoc

11 of 22

Reasoning which assumes a causal connection without good reason. Just because one thing happened before another thing, it is not necessarily the case that the first thing is the cause the second thing.

12 of 22

Restricting the options

13 of 22

Pretending that there are only two alternatives when there are, in fact, other possibilities.

14 of 22

Slippery Slope

15 of 22

An arguement that goes too far too quickly. One thing leads to another, resulting in an extreme conclusion.

16 of 22

Strawman

17 of 22

Deliberatley distorting the arguement of the opposition, in order to make it easier to fault.

18 of 22

Sweeping generalisation

19 of 22

Generalising from a limited sample or from a single example.

20 of 22

'Tu Quoque'

21 of 22

Arguing that something is okay because others have done it - 'You too.'

22 of 22

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