Logical Fallacies

Ryan O, Megan S, Tyler I

Ad Hominem
An attack on the character of a person rather
than her/his opinions or arguments

Ad hominem Ex.
All vegetarians are tree hugging losers.
This doesnt explain why we disagree with the
values of vegetarians but it criticizes their
character rather than their beliefs.

How does this affect the authors ethos? (neg.)

The author is not criticizing the issue but they

are taking the easy way out. Instead, they are
are criticizing the persons character.

Ad Hominem Quiz Questions

1. What is an ad hominem?
2. Blonde people like Starbucks Is this an
example of an ad hominem? Why or why
not?

Appeal to Ignorance
Occurs when one person uses another
persons lack of knowledge on a particular
subject as evidence that their own argument is
correct

Appeal to Ignorance Ex.

You cant prove that there arent martians living
in caves under the surface of Mars, so it is
reasonable for me to believe there are.
This shows that a person might not have the
knowledge that other people have about space.

How does this affect the authors ethos? (neg.)

The author is criticizing how dumb the other

person is.

Appeal to Ignorance Questions

What is appeal to ignorance?
Lots of people bought this album, so it must be good. is
this an example of appeal to ignorance?
Dont listen to Eddies arguments on education, hes an
idiot.

Avoiding ad hominem and appeal to ignorance

Avoid ad hominem
o Use good reasonings
Avoid appeal to ignorance
o Do not use someone elses lack of knowledge to make your argument
correct

Works Cited
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-fallacies.ht
ml
http://philosophy.lander.edu/scireas/ignorance.html
http://study.com/academy/lesson/ad-hominem-fallacy-defini
tion-examples.html