Common Fallacies

Common fallacies are arguments that have a logical fallacy inherent in them, yet are still commonly accepted by people who:

• have difficulties with abstract thinking
• are young students, or are adults unwilling to reconsider opinions they formed as students
• exercise their free will to embrace fallacies without concern for whether they are flawed

Examples of common fallacies are:

• a theory should be accepted until a better alternative is found
• rates of recession, decay or growth observed today are somehow constant for extrapolation backwards in time
• higher taxes must produce more revenue for the government
• fewer guns must reduce the rate of crime
• choice is somehow meaningful regardless of whether it is informed
• human thought can answer any question
• loaded questions: embodies an assumption that, if answered, indicates an implied agreement. (e.g., Have you stopped beating your wife yet?)
• Appeal to Misleading Authority: When a person believes a claim to be true simply because an "authority" says so, when that "authority" is not actually an authority on the subject at hand. For example, if somebody believes a claim about chemistry to be true simply because a psychologist says it is true. What constitutes an authority is debatable.

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