Appeal to accomplishment
Occurs when a claim is treated as true or weighty mainly because the person promoting it has impressive accomplishments in some other domain.
TacticalEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Family
Persuasive/Appeal Fallacy
The argument leans on emotional, social, or rhetorical force where evidence or reasoning should do the work.
Appeal to authority
Occurs when someone treats an authority's endorsement as if it settled the issue, even when the authority is unqualified, the field is divided, or the claim still require...
EvidentialEmotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to consequences
Occurs when someone treats the desirability or undesirability of a conclusion as if it were evidence that the conclusion is true or false.
EvidentialEmotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to emotion
Occurs when a conclusion is pushed mainly by triggering fear, pity, outrage, pride, or hope rather than by showing that the conclusion follows from the evidence.
TacticalEmotionalEpistemic
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to fear
Occurs when someone tries to secure agreement mainly by amplifying danger, threat, or panic rather than by showing that the conclusion is supported.
Emotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to flattery
Occurs when someone tries to win agreement by flattering the audience's intelligence, courage, independence, or special insight instead of supplying the missing evidence.
Emotional
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
Appeal to novelty
Occurs when something is treated as better mainly because it is new, cutting-edge, or marketed as the future.
PerspectivalEvidentialEmotional
Intermediate
High school
Appeal to pity
Occurs when sympathy for a person or group is used as if it were evidence that a claim is true or a conclusion follows.
Emotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to poverty
Occurs when a claim is treated as more trustworthy, virtuous, or true mainly because its proponent is poor, ordinary, or from humble circumstances.
Tactical
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to ridicule
Occurs when mockery, embarrassment, or derision is used in place of showing why a view is false.
Emotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to spite
Occurs when resentment, bitterness, or hostility toward another group is used to drive support for a conclusion.
Emotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Appeal to tradition
Occurs when a claim or practice is defended mainly because it has a long history, customary status, or familiar place in a community.
PerspectivalEvidentialEmotional
Intermediate
High school
Appeal to wealth
Occurs when a claim is treated as more credible or correct mainly because it comes from a rich, famous, or financially successful person.
Tactical
Foundational
Middle school+
Argument from repetition
Occurs when repetition is treated as if it adds evidence, wearing down doubt or making a claim seem true through familiarity.
Tactical
Foundational
Middle school+
Argumentum ad baculum
Occurs when agreement is extracted by threat, intimidation, or coercive pressure rather than by showing that the claim is true.
TacticalEmotional
Foundational
Middle 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
Chronological snobbery
Occurs when an idea is dismissed mainly because it is old, premodern, or associated with a period that also held many false beliefs.
EvidentialPerspectival
Intermediate
High school
Confidence as a validator
Occurs when a speaker's certainty, intensity, or felt conviction is treated as if it were evidence that the claim is true.
EpistemicEvidentialEmotional
Intermediate
High school
Misleading vividness
Occurs when a striking anecdote or emotionally intense case is used to make a problem seem more common, clear, or representative than the broader evidence allows.
TacticalPerceptualEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Sentimental fallacy
Occurs when the desirability, comfort, or emotional appeal of an outcome is treated as if that were evidence that the outcome is true, feasible, or justified.
EvidentialEmotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Style over substance fallacy
Occurs when the polish, confidence, charisma, or dramatic force of a presentation is treated as if it established the quality of the argument itself.
TacticalPerceptual
Foundational
Middle school+
Wishful thinking
Occurs when a belief or decision is driven mainly by what would be pleasing, hopeful, or comforting if true rather than by what the evidence supports.
EmotionalEpistemicEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+