
That form occurs in both good arguments and fallacious arguments. Step 3 often leads to…until we reach an obviously unacceptable step, so step 1 is not acceptable. For example, the Slippery Slope Fallacy is an informal fallacy that has the following form: Step 1 often leads to step 2. The formal fallacies are fallacious only because of their logical form. Even if you do not explicitly give your reasons, it is your responsibility to be able to give them if challenged.Īn informal fallacy is fallacious because of both its form and its content. The burden of proof is on your shoulders when you claim that someone’s reasoning is fallacious. The list below includes some fallacies of these sorts, but most are fallacies that involve kinds of errors made while arguing informally in natural language.Ī charge of fallacious reasoning always needs to be justified.

Sometimes the term “fallacy” is used even more broadly to indicate any false belief or cause of a false belief. The vast majority of the commonly identified fallacies involve arguments, although some involve only explanations, or definitions, or other products of reasoning. Fallacies may be created unintentionally, or they may be created intentionally in order to deceive other people.

Fallacious arguments should not be persuasive, but they too often are. The list of fallacies below contains 231 names of the most common fallacies, and it provides brief explanations and examples of each of them.

A fallacy is a kind of error in reasoning.
