Chickenhawk Fallacy

A Chickenhawk is a person who takes a hawkish or aggressive stance on military issues but has never been to war or served in the military. It can also be applied to the one using the Chickenhawk Fallacy which is to deny standing to discuss military issues to anyone who is not themselves at war or a veteran.

There are many reasons why the Chickenhawk Fallacy is invalid logic, but basically it's just an ad hominem, attacking the arguer rather than the argument.

Latin: ad hominem buteo gallus

Argument by Adjective

Wizard
[Web]

A speaker may pepper his argument with adjectives (or adverb), adding unproved assertions. This tactic draws attention away from the main argument, and as such is a form of red herring. Since the assertions have not been developed, refuting them may be difficult as well. Even if the speaker using them has not met his burden of proof, the emotional content of the adjective.

For instance, an activist or lobbyist may say, "There will be serious repercussions from this illegal bill, and I don't just mean to the political fortunes of those who hypocritically voted for it."

What "serious" means in this context is left veiled, but the real gem is "illegal", which presupposes a number of conditions. Illegality implies some (higher) authority whose precepts have been countermanded, but the bare adjective doesn't specify who that authority is, or in what way the law violates those (higher) precepts. Again, that those who voted for some law professed not to want it is left undeveloped, but the charge of "hypocrisy" raises distrust.

I'll look for other examples and update them here.

Straw Man

Relevance
[Web]

A Straw Man argument is one that attempts to refute a position an opponent hasn't actually taken. Typically the straw man will be an extreme position or, as Bruce Thompson notes, an alleged hidden agenda.

Sometimes the straw man is simply the result of a misinterpreted position. But no matter how well the straw man is defeated, the true position remains unassailed. The Straw Man can be seen therefor as shifting the burden of proof.

Bruce Thompson:

The argument misrepresents a position that it seeks to refute. By refuting the position as misrepresented, the argument creates the impression that it has refuted the position that is actually held by opponents.

Fallacy Files:

As the "straw man" metaphor suggests, the counterfeit position attacked in a Straw Man argument is typically weaker than the opponent's actual position, just as a straw man is easier to defeat than a flesh-and-blood one. Of course, this is no accident, but is part of what makes the fallacy tempting to commit, especially to a desperate debater who is losing an argument.

Poison the Well

Poisoning the Well is an argumentum ad hominem in which an opponent is criticized before his argument has been heard. It is fallacy of relevance, since it doesn't address the argument (being only a guess at it) but the arguer.

Bruce Thompson:

...it is not so much aimed at persuading the audience that the opponent's view is false (which would be an argument) as it is aimed at getting the audience to refuse to listen to the opponent's argument in the first place.

Fallacy Files:

The phrase "poisoning the well" ultimately alludes to the medieval European myth that the black plague was caused by Jews poisoning town wells—a myth which was used as an excuse to persecute Jews.

Argumentum ad hominem

Latin for: Argument at the man

An "ad hominem" attack is one against a person or group who has stated an idea, rather than the idea itself. Usually, an argumentum ad hominem is attacking a source or authority for information.

As Fallacy Files says, "Argumentum ad hominem also occurs when someone's arguments are discounted merely because they stand to benefit from the policy they advocate."

An argument can be valid or invalid no matter who makes it. A special case of this general principle is that in court, known perjurers may have an impossibly difficult burden of proof to carry, and in fact their testimony may be ruled inadmissible, especially if the perjury occurs during the case at hand.

Ad hominem arguments may often be restated in better form, as changing "You're a socialist." into "What you have expressed is socialist dogma." It still needs work, since there may not be a clear relationship between the former ad hominem target's words and socialist dogma, and there is a need to overcome the burden of proving socialist dogma to be invalid, since some may find socialist dogma to be wholly reasonable.

A special case of ad hominem is the ad hominem tu quoque, in which an argument is attacked because its proponents fail (or failed in the past) to show full adherence to it themselves.

[Updated 7/15/07 for formatting, conversion to search links, and the like.]

Red Herring

(Search)
A Red Herring is a proposition within an argument that seems to apply to the topic at hand, but is actually unrelated. Arguments which rely on a red herring may be perfectly sound, but can reach only an Irrelevant Conclusion. They are a subclass of (and almost synonymous with) Ignoratio Elenchi, or fallacies of relevance.

Bruce Thompson:

The speaker introduces a new subject into the discussion that has a superficial similarity to the topic under discussion. The new subject is so emotionally charged that people cannot resist arguing about it, even though it is off the original subject. Raising the new topic does not really serve the goal of bringing the original subject to a conclusion (i.e. of getting the audience to accept the speaker's position). Rather, it distracts attention away from the original subject, preventing either side from supporting its conclusion.

Fallacy Files:

This fallacy is often known by the Latin name Ignoratio Elenchi, which translates as "ignorance of refutation". The ignorance involved is either ignorance of the conclusion to be refuted—even deliberately ignoring it—or ignorance of what constitutes a refutation, so that the attempt misses the mark.
[...]
(The name of this fallacy comes from the sport of fox hunting in which a dried, smoked herring, which is red in color, is dragged across the trail of the fox to throw the hounds off the scent. Thus, a "red herring" argument is one which distracts the audience from the issue in question through the introduction of some irrelevancy.)

Appeal to Authority

Latin: argumentum ad verecundiam

An Appeal to Authority is the general name for any argument that rests on who provides some evidence, rather than on the content of the evidence. The name also refers to the specific practice of citing expert opinion.

There are some matters for which an appeal to an expert is perfectly reasonable. If faced with a task of carpentry, mathematics, or bureaucracy, one is wise to consult an expert and trust the guidance received.

In informal logic, however, the opinion of an expert is seldom conclusive in itself. It may be appropriate to list expert opinion as evidence, but only after establishing that such opinion is relevant, available, trustworthy, and not contradicted by other experts, simple experimentation, or common sense. The key question to ask is: is this opinion falsifiable? The carpenter or mathematician cannot afford to give bad advice, since the quality of their advice will become apparent with use. The fortune teller or political pundit ... not so much.

The trustworthiness of an expert must also be considered with respect to the burden of proof. That is, to the extent that an argument rests on the opinion of the expert, the argument also rests on the level of respect that expert commands to the listener. As a special case, the believability of an expert varies inversely with an audience's perception of his bias relative to his opinion.

Conversely, to show that an Appeal to Authority is fallacious (or at least to counter it), it is only necessary to show that one of the following:

• The opinion is taken out of context or misquoted
• This or another expert has given contradictory opinions on the same subject
  
• The expert is a crackpot (ad hominem versus ad verecundiam is a draw)
• Actual facts or simple, solid reasoning that controvert the opinion

See also Experts Agree and the Zone of Conflict

Bruce Thompson:

Ad verecundiam is a Latin phrase that actually means "(appeal) to modesty." However, it is generally referred to as "Appeal to Authority." The arguments in this family appeal to the modesty, i.e. lack of knowledge or expertise, of the listener (and also generally of the speaker). Since the listener is too modest to claim to be an expert in the subject under discussion, the speaker attempts to settle the question by citing the authority of someone who is an expert.

Thompson lists these as examples of ad verecundiam:

• Invincible Authority
• Unidentified Experts
• Celebrity Endorsement
• Appeal to Confidence
• Appeal to Popularity (Ad Populum)
• Appeal to Rugged Individualism (Speak Truth to Power)
  
• Appeal to Tradition
• Appeal to Novelty

Appeal to Emotion

Latin: argumentum ad populam

Philosophy Pages

The informal fallacy of persuading someone to accept (or reject) a conclusion by arousing favorable (or unfavorable) emotions toward it or by emphasizing its widespread acceptance (or rejection) by others.

Bruce Thompson says emotional appeals are fallacious when not relevant to the subject at hand. However, an emotional appeal may be directly relevant and still lead to a false conclusion, depending on whether the facts which engender the emotions are true or not.

Fallacy Files makes a distinction between relevant and fallacious appeals to emotion based on the distinction between arguments for action and for belief:

Appeals to emotion are always fallacious when intended to influence our beliefs, but they are sometimes reasonable when they aim to motivate us to act. The fact that we desire something to be true gives not the slightest reason to believe it, and the fact that we fear something being true is no reason to think it false; but the desire for something is often a good reason to pursue it, and fear of something else a good reason to flee.

Related: