Abstraction denial
Occurs when someone denies the reality or causal relevance of a higher-level pattern just because the pattern is realized through lower-level parts.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Category
Conceptual
Errors caused by bad categories, weak distinctions, or distorted conceptual boundaries.
Abstraction fallacy
Occurs when a model, law, or abstraction drawn from experience is treated as if it were a logically necessary rule that reality cannot ever depart from.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to nature
Occurs when something is praised as good, safe, or right merely because it is called natural, or condemned as bad merely because it is called unnatural.
ConceptualEvidential
Intermediate
High school
Argumentum ad populum
Occurs when a claim is treated as true, reasonable, or justified mainly because many people believe it, share it, or act on it.
EvidentialConceptualEpistemic
Advanced
Advanced undergraduate
Bottom-up condemnation
Occurs when a negative generalization about a group is used as if it settled the character or behavior of a specific member of that group.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Bottom-up justification
Occurs when a positive generalization about a group is used as if it established the virtue or competence of a specific member of that group.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Composition fallacy
Occurs when something true of the parts is assumed to be true of the whole they compose.
Conceptual
Intermediate
High school
Conjunction fallacy
Occurs when a more detailed scenario is treated as more probable than a less detailed scenario that already contains it.
ConceptualMathematical
Advanced
Advanced undergraduate
Continuum fallacy
Occurs when a claim is rejected simply because the concept involved has blurry boundaries rather than a perfectly sharp cutoff.
ConceptualLinguistic
Intermediate
High school
Definist fallacy
Occurs when a substantive question is illegitimately 'solved' by defining one contested concept into another.
LinguisticConceptual
Intermediate
High school
Denying a remote hypothetical
Occurs when a hypothetical test case is dismissed as irrelevant merely because it is rare, extreme, or unlikely, even though the principle under debate is supposed to be...
EvidentialConceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Denying the correlative
Occurs when one side of a genuine contrast is denied or redefined so the opposing term has no place to apply.
Conceptual
Intermediate
High school
Division fallacy
Occurs when something true of a whole is assumed to be true of each part or member of that whole.
Conceptual
Intermediate
High school
Ecological fallacy
Occurs when statistics about a group are used to draw conclusions about particular individuals in that group.
MathematicalConceptual
Advanced
Advanced undergraduate
Epistemic/ontological conflation
Occurs when the psychological or social effects of believing something are treated as evidence that the thing believed in actually exists or is true.
ConceptualEvidentialEpistemic
Intermediate
High school
Fallacy of necessity
Occurs when a condition that is necessary given someone's current description is treated as if it were permanently or universally necessary in the real world.
LinguisticConceptual
Intermediate
High school
False analogy
Occurs when one thing is treated as sufficiently like another even though the comparison breaks down at the point the argument depends on.
Conceptual
Intermediate
High school
False compromise
Occurs when the midpoint between two positions is treated as correct simply because it lies between them.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
False dilemma
Occurs when someone presents a limited set of options as if they were the only live possibilities, while reasonable alternatives are ignored or suppressed.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
False equivalence
Occurs when two things are treated as equivalent in seriousness, meaning, or explanatory weight despite relevant differences that make the comparison misleading.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Faulty generalization
Occurs when an inductive conclusion reaches further than the available evidence can reasonably support, or ignores information that should limit the generalization.
ConceptualEvidential
Intermediate
High school
For the sake of argument denial
Occurs when a hypothetical premise is rejected simply because the speaker does not actually believe it.
ConceptualEpistemic
Intermediate
High school
Genetic fallacy
Occurs when a claim, practice, or idea is judged mainly by its origin rather than by its present content, evidence, or merits.
LinguisticConceptual
Advanced
Intro college
Homunculus fallacy
Occurs when a mind-like inner observer is smuggled in to explain mind-like abilities, thereby postponing rather than solving the explanation.
ConceptualPerspectival
Intermediate
High school
Human standard fallacy
Occurs when a human classification, rule, or label is treated as if it automatically determined the underlying fact or moral status.
ConceptualPerspectival
Intermediate
High school
Impotent logical space
Occurs when a view is framed so every possible outcome fits it equally well, leaving no meaningful room for the claim to fail.
EvidentialConceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Incomplete comparison
Occurs when one option is called better, worse, cheaper, safer, or more effective without specifying the relevant comparison class or the other factors that matter.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Inconsistent comparison
Occurs when different comparison targets are used across different dimensions to create the illusion of one all-around winner.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Is-ought problem
Occurs when a descriptive claim about what is common, natural, or actual is treated as if it directly established what ought to be done.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Linearity fallacy
Occurs when someone assumes that doubling the input will double the output even though the system has thresholds, saturation, feedback loops, or diminishing returns.
ConceptualMathematical
Advanced
Advanced undergraduate
Naturalistic fallacy
Occurs when something is treated as good, safe, or morally preferable mainly because it is called natural, traditional, or closer to nature.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Nirvana fallacy
Occurs when a realistic option is rejected because it does not solve a problem perfectly or because an imagined ideal is used as the standard of comparison.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
No True Scotsman
Occurs when someone protects a generalization from counterexamples by redefining the group with an ad hoc 'real' or 'true' membership test.
ConceptualLinguistic
Foundational
Middle school+
Overwhelming exception
Occurs when a general principle is padded with so many exceptions that it no longer guides action or says much of substance.
LinguisticConceptual
Advanced
Intro college
Package-deal fallacy
Occurs when traits that are often bundled together by stereotype, tradition, or habit are treated as if they must always come as a package.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Pathetic fallacy
Occurs when human feelings, intentions, or judgments are projected onto impersonal things and then treated as if the projection explained reality.
ConceptualPerspectival
Advanced
Intro college
Perfect solution fallacy
Occurs when a useful solution is dismissed because it does not fully solve the problem or because some flaws would remain afterward.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Perfect standard
Occurs when a messy range of better and worse cases is collapsed into a rigid perfect-or-failed binary.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Perverted analogy
Occurs when an analogy is deliberately stretched past its intended point so it can be mocked or refuted.
TacticalConceptual
Intermediate
High school
Proof by example
Occurs when one or a few examples are offered as if they were enough to establish a universal claim.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Reification
Occurs when an abstraction is spoken of as if it were a concrete agent or thing in a way that misleads rather than merely using harmless metaphor.
ConceptualLinguisticPerspectival
Intermediate
High school
Sharpshooter fallacy
Occurs when someone highlights the data cluster that supports a favored story only after looking at the results, then treats that hand-picked pattern as if it had been th...
EvidentialConceptual
Intermediate
High school
Single cause fallacy
Occurs when a complex outcome is explained as if one cause alone did the work, while other relevant causes are ignored or illegitimately minimized.
CausalConceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Slippery slope
Occurs when someone claims that a relatively small first step will trigger a chain of worsening outcomes without showing why that chain is likely, stable, or hard to stop...
CausalConceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Special pleading
Occurs when someone asks for an exception to a rule or standard but does not provide a relevant reason for why the favored case should be exempt.
EvidentialConceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Suppressed correlative
Occurs when one term in a meaningful contrast is redefined so broadly or so narrowly that its opposing term can no longer do any work.
ConceptualLinguistic
Intermediate
High school
Teleological fallacy
Occurs when a purpose, goal, or final destination is attributed to something without adequate evidence that such an end point was built into it.
Conceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Top-down condemnation
Occurs when a negative trait found in one member of a group is used to condemn the group as a whole.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Top-down faulty generalization
Occurs when a reasonable generalization is attacked by demanding that it hold without relevant scope conditions or exceptions.
ConceptualEvidential
Intermediate
High school
Top-down justification
Occurs when a positive trait found in one member of a group is used to justify a positive conclusion about the group as a whole.
ConceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Witness chain
Occurs when testimony is padded by unverifiable references to other alleged witnesses, creating the illusion of corroboration without actually providing independent suppo...
EvidentialConceptual
Foundational
Middle school+