Ad hominem
Occurs when someone treats an attack on a person's character, motives, class, or biography as if it were a refutation of that person's argument.
TacticalEmotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Family
Relevance/Distraction Fallacy
The move shifts attention away from the real issue and substitutes something rhetorically nearby but logically irrelevant.
Association fallacy
Occurs when a claim is accepted or dismissed because of some irrelevant association rather than because of the merits of the claim itself.
TacticalEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Empty refutation
Occurs when someone declares an argument false, debunked, or dishonest without identifying the specific flaw that would actually show it is false.
Tactical
Foundational
Middle school+
False surrender
Occurs when someone calls for a truce, balance, or 'agree to disagree' posture not because the evidence is genuinely inconclusive, but because their position is under pre...
Tactical
Foundational
Middle 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
Moving the goalpost
Occurs when evidence that was supposed to satisfy a stated standard is dismissed and a new, harder standard is introduced so the conclusion never has to be reconsidered.
TacticalEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Poisoning the well
Occurs when negative framing is introduced in advance so that whatever a person says next will be dismissed before it is fairly heard.
Tactical
Foundational
Middle school+
Red herring
Occurs when someone diverts attention from the unresolved issue by switching to a different issue that is easier, safer, or more emotionally useful.
TacticalEmotional
Foundational
Middle school+
Straw man argument
Occurs when someone replaces an opponent's actual position with a weaker, more extreme, or simplified version and then refutes that easier target.
Tactical
Foundational
Middle school+
Tu quoque
Occurs when criticism is answered not by engaging the issue, but by pointing to similar hypocrisy or wrongdoing elsewhere.
TacticalEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+
Two wrongs make a right
Occurs when someone treats one wrong act as justified because it responds to, retaliates against, or balances out another wrong.
TacticalEvidential
Foundational
Middle school+