Great visual of all logical fallacies with examples

[Turbo SS]

Could this possibly be stickied somewhere?  Just link the christians to it everytime they commit a fallacy.  Its a good resource if you think someone is committing a fallacy but you cant put your finger on it.

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/rhetological-fallacies/

[Mr. Blackwell]

I like the appeal to probability example...I didn't know it was a fallacy.

"There are billions of galaxies with billions of stars in the universe. So there must be another planet with intelligent life on it."

I think a couple of our members have committed that fallacy somewhere on these forums. 

[Garja]

bookmarked that sucker.  good find.

[Death over Life]

I like the appeal to probability example...I didn't know it was a fallacy.

"There are billions of galaxies with billions of stars in the universe. So there must be another planet with intelligent life on it."

I think a couple of our members have committed that fallacy somewhere on these forums. 

Checking them out in more details, there seems to be a few that we fellow atheists have committed before, like:

Appeal to Ridicule

Presenting the opponent's argument in a way that makes it appear absurd.

"Faith in God is like beleiving in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy!"

For as logical and reasonable as we have been, many have fallen to this fallacy. I agree with everybody that this is a good find!

[jdawg70]

Checking them out in more details, there seems to be a few that we fellow atheists have committed before, like:

Appeal to Ridicule

Presenting the opponent's argument in a way that makes it appear absurd.

"Faith in God is like beleiving in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy!"

For as logical and reasonable as we have been, many have fallen to this fallacy. I agree with everybody that this is a good find!

I have a hard time with this one actually.  So far as I can tell, it is only fallacious if the analogy of absurdity is invalid.

It may very well be a poor argument to appeal to emotions, but I'm not sure that the example is fallacious.  After all, at least for me, I feel like a belief in the existence of an entity without any evidence to suggest that entity's existence is actually absurd.

But yeah, I've always loved this infograph.  That site has a lot of gold in it.

[lomolo]

I have a hard time with this one actually.  So far as I can tell, it is only fallacious if the analogy of absurdity is invalid.

I don't see why it's a fallacy to make the connections there. If you've got an actual argument behind it and just use the Santa Claus analogy to illustrate it it's not fallacious.

[Quesi]

This is a list of logical fallacies.  Not a list of rules on acceptable human discourse. 

Even rational thinkers are allowed to introduce humor or emotion or even subjective opinions into conversations. 

There are a lot of circumstances in which may of these fallacies are appropriate. 

If I am having a brainstorming session with my staff, I am most certainly not going to advise against “hasty generalizations” because that is what brainstorming is.  We know we are going to dismiss the majority of ideas that are generated, but we are trying to break out of existing molds and find a new solution to a problem.   

Appeal to ridicule?  Friendly banter can build bonds among friends, or even make dissenting voices in a discussion stop and laugh at themselves. And sometimes it is a valid way to demonstrate the flaws in an argument.  I love watching Ancient Aliens on Friday nights.  It is on right now.  And I love to retell the arguments that they make in a deadpan tone.  Especially to new age people.  Who often look a little uncomfortable and nod and agree that it is more than a little silly. 

I think that in many circumstances, appealing to fear or appealing to pity are often valid.  If I were having a quick discussion about the upcoming US election with someone who has not yet decided how to vote, I would not hesitate to tell that person the ways in which I believe a Romney administration would probably have a negative impact on that person’s life, family or community.  And I think that sometimes there is a fine line between pity and empathy.  And if empathy has the potential to become a motivating factor for someone, then pointing out the pain that someone else is suffering is valid. 

Appeal to common practice or appeal to tradition?  There are times those arguments can be appropriate.  As I watched a friend try on clothes recently, I suggested “people our age probably shouldn’t wear skirts that short,” rather than blunting stating that in my opinion she looked ridiculous.   

Appeal to probability?  Well, I sure as hell will be presenting that argument to my daughter about unprotected sex. 

This is a great list.  I'm suspect most of us can look at this list and become more aware of the ways in which we have used (or continue to use) logical fallacies in debates or arguments.  Being aware of the wide range of fallacies that we can fall victim to is an important step towards improving our ability to understand the ways in which we interpret all of the input that the world has to offer, including but not limited to understanding the news media, politicians, beloved but irritating family members, pompous bosses, petty bureaucratics, authoritative teachers, and irrational lovers. 

But just because we are atheists does not mean that we are required to monitor all of our human interactions as if we were perpetually defending a doctoral dissertation. 

[Poseidon]

Thoughtful post Quesi.  We must guard ourselves against the various forms of absolutism. 

I do, however, give the informationisbeautiful link five stars. The extension to the list was about a Bishop and his argument against same sex marriage.  A well constructed critique followed the bishops text.  That made me imagine that a hundred thousand sermons, preached last Sunday, were equally at odds with analysis by logic.

[Quesi]

I do, however, give the informationisbeautiful link five stars. The extension to the list was about a Bishop and his argument against same sex marriage.  A well constructed critique followed the bishops text.  That made me imagine that a hundred thousand sermons, preached last Sunday, were equally at odds with analysis by logic.

Nice!  I didn't even scroll down to the bottom and see that link.  Excellent application of the fallacies to the bishop's article.

[Illuminatus99]

There's a bunch of other great visualizations on that site too.

[Anfauglir]

Scott Adams did a similar checklist in one of his non-cartoon books, which is a handy size to keep in one's wallet to bring out and hand over.

[Turbo SS]

Thoughtful post Quesi.  We must guard ourselves against the various forms of absolutism. 

I do, however, give the informationisbeautiful link five stars. The extension to the list was about a Bishop and his argument against same sex marriage.  A well constructed critique followed the bishops text.  That made me imagine that a hundred thousand sermons, preached last Sunday, were equally at odds with analysis by logic.

That was excellent.  I took it and posted it on the chic-fil-a Facebook wall.  Stirred up some fun with that. 

[Noman Peopled]

I have a hard time with this one actually.  So far as I can tell, it is only fallacious if the analogy of absurdity is invalid.

It may very well be a poor argument to appeal to emotions, but I'm not sure that the example is fallacious.  After all, at least for me, I feel like a belief in the existence of an entity without any evidence to suggest that entity's existence is actually absurd.

To maybe simplify things, an appeal to ridicule is basically to make fun of something to "show" that it is untrue. A reductio ad absurdum, by contrast, has the goal of showing that a position or deduction is absurd, i.e. obviously false. Making the attacked position look ridiculous may be incidental.

Of course many theists would call the god/fairy example an example of ridicule as opposed to a reductio, as which it may be typically intended. It's true that it can't be used as an actual argument against god's existence, even if used as a reductio. It can, however, be used validly as a reductio when arguing about the consistency of a person's worldview, i.e. in showing that a person would not believe anything else based on the same evidence - this being a formally independent topic. If used thusly, the validity of the argument of course depends on the premise being true ("there is no more valid evidence for god than there is for fairies"). One consequence of this approach would be that the user of the reductio would not be required to show that god does not exist, nor even argue that the evidence sucks - merely that it sucks as much or as little as the evidence for faeries.

It is also possible to use the god/fairy example as a simple analogy, in which case it merely illustrates the opinion of the speaker. Much like an ad hominem is not a fallacy unless it's actually used as an "argument". In that case, it could no longer be used as an argument or premise.

[Turbo SS]

So moderators, could this list be put somewhere on the site?  I think its a great reference source we can use and point christians to as well.