How to Coach Yourself and Others Beware of Manipulation | Page 54

alibi for the evening of January 15th. This proves that he was in fact in room 331 at the Smuggler's
Pass Inn, murdering his ex-wife!"
Argumentum verbosium
See Proof by verbosity, below.
Begging the question (petitio principii)
The failure to provide what is essentially the conclusion of an argument as a premise, if so required.
(shifting the) Burden of proof (see – onus probandi, see also “argument from ignorance). A fallacy that
challenges opponents to disprove a claim, rather than asking the person making the claim to defend
his/her own argument. “I need not prove my claim, you must prove it is false.” E.g., "Space-aliens are
everywhere among us, even here on campus, masquerading as true humans! I dare you prove it isn't so!
See? You can't! That means you have to accept that what I say is true."
Circular reasoning (also “begging the question” )
When the reasoner begins with what he or she is trying to end up with. - Falsely arguing that
something is true by repeating the same statement in different words. E.g., “The witchcraft problem is
the most urgent challenge in the world today. Why? Because witches threaten our very souls.” A
corrupt argument from logos.
Big Lie Technique (also "Staying on Message"):
The contemporary fallacy of repeating a lie, slogan or deceptive half-truth over and over (particularly
in the media) until people believe it without further proof or evidence.. E.g., "What about the Jewish
Question?" Note that when this particular phony debate was going on there was no "Jewish Question,"
only a "Nazi Question," but hardly anybody in power recognized or wanted to talk about that.
Circular cause and consequence
Where the consequence of the phenomenon is claimed to be its root cause.
Continuum fallacy (fallacy of the beard, line-drawing fallacy, sorites fallacy, fallacy of the heap, bald
man fallacy)
Improperly rejecting a claim for being imprecise.
Correlation proves causation (cum hoc ergo propter hoc)
A faulty assumption that correlation between two variables implies that one causes the other.
Correlative-based fallacies
Suppressed correlative
Where a correlative is redefined so that one alternative is made impossible.
Equivocation
The misleading use of a term with more than one meaning (by glossing over which meaning is
intended at a particular time).
Ambiguous middle term
A common ambiguity in syllogisms in which the middle term is equivocated.
Ecological fallacy
Inferences about the nature of specific individuals are based solely upon aggregate statistics collected
for the group to which those individuals belong.
Etymological fallacy
Which reasons that the original or historical meaning of a word or phrase is necessarily similar to its
actual present-day meaning.

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