Logical Fallacies and Rhetorical Techniques

The authors of this webpage made up the term “rhetological” (a mashup of the above) to encompass the many errors or techniques they’ve researched (their sources) and compiled them into a handy list. (PNG version here) Additional interesting sites with similar content include 50 Cognitive Biases in the Modern World, yourlogicalfallacyis.com, and yourbias.is.

I’m very interested in clarity and accuracy of thought and speech, thus seek to hold myself and others accountable for any “rhetological” mistakes. If you ever catch me making such an error - do let me know!

Below, I’ve listed a select few “rhetological” issues that most bother me and separated them into buckets related to work and personal life. I feel each of these buckets provides for substantially different flavors of discussions which leads to a unique distribution of “rhetological” issues that most commonly occur in those settings.

Work Settings:

  • Anecdotal Evidence

    • Discounting evidence arrived at by systematic search or testing in favor of a few firsthand stories.

  • Burden of Proof

    • “I don't need to prove my claim - you must prove it is false.”

  • False Dilemma

    • Presenting two opposing options as the only two options while hiding alternatives.

  • Slippery Slope

    • Assuming a relatively small first step will inevitably lead to a chain of related (negative) events

  • Gambler's Fallacy

    • Assuming the history of outcomes will affect future outcomes.

Personal Settings:

Extrapolation-related:

  • Appeal to Common Practice

    • Claiming something is true because it's commonly practiced.

  • Appeal to Nature

    • Making your claim seem more true by drawing a comparison with the "good" natural world.

  • Appeal to Popular Belief

    • Claiming something is true because the majority of people believe it.

  • Composition

    • Assuming that characteristics or beliefs of some of a group apply to the entire group

  • Division

    • Assuming that characteristics or beliefs of a group automatically apply to any individual member

Attacking the person, not their content:

  • Ad Hominem

    • Bypassing the argument by launching an irrelevant attack on the person and not their claim.

  • Genetic Fallacy

    • Attacking the cause or origin of a claim, rather than its substance.

  • Appeal to Spite

    • Dismissing a claim by appealing to a personal bias against the claimant.