FALLACIES - UNSOUND REASONING THAT POISON DIALECTIC
The basis of sound reasoning is provided by the principles of logic. They are the keys to rational dialogue and universal understanding.

However, reason is under sustained attack from almost every direction.  Every day, we are constantly bombarded by much information from the mass media, our educators, our politicians, our friends and our co-workers.  Though we are sometimes unaware, these messages that persuade us, inform us, contradict us, motivates us and forces us to take certain actions or to re-evaluate others; can sometimes be less than coherent. 

We need to arm ourselves against unsound arguments by guarding against these false beliefs or unsound arguments called fallacies.

This imaginary dialogue between Socrates and 25 Sophists (representing 25 different fallacies) would be illustrative:

Socrates: Hello, my dear friends!  What do you think truth is?  I think truth cannot be passively discovered but is only attainable in an ongoing process of pursuit through questioning and conflict with opposing ideas and modifying one's position in the process.

Sophist 1: What does a short, ugly, old man like you know about truth? (Ad Hominem fallacy - attacking the man instead of the argument)


Sophist 2:  If you are religious, I think truth is determined by God; if not, then it is established by our Government. (Appeal to authority)

Sophist 3:  I think to find truth we need to look at the causes of all phenomena.  So we should look at all preceding events first. (Post hoc - asserting that one thing is the cause of another thing because it precedes it in time)

Sophist 4:  For thousands of years, we Greeks all think of truth the same way.  So there is no need for change now. (Appeal to tradition/ Prejudice fallacy)

Sophist 5:  Never mind what you say about truth, Socrates.  I'm more concerned about your intention in bringing up the subject. (Red Herring fallacy - redirecting attention to another subject)


Sophist 6: Truth is like the wind - it may blow East, it may blow West.  Who knows which direction it's going next?  (False analogy fallacy)

Sophist 7: Ha ha, Socrates. You foolish man! If your ideas conflict with opposing ideas, these opposing ideas will themselves conflict with other ideas, and so on, ad infinitum. I think what you end up with is not the truth, but a state of paralysis and anarchy. (Straw man fallacy - misrepresenting an opponent's position in an absurd way)

Sophist 8: Actually, the issue is quite simple. Since truth is absolute and unchanging, there is no point in pursuing it or testing it against other ideas because doing so will not change it one bit! Truth is best left alone. (Circular Argument or Begging the question fallacy - using the conclusion as the premise of an argument)


Sophist 9: There are only 2 possibilities. Either truth is self-evident, or else it is unknowable. Since we are discussing it, it is probably not self-evident. So it must be unknowable! (False Dilemma fallacy)

Sophist 10:  If truth needs to be pursued endlessly against a constant stream of opposing ideas, it will never be established.  There will not be any useful human understanding, no progress and therefore, no civilization.  We will end up no better than any other animal species! (Slippery slope fallacy or Domino theory)

Sophist 11: According to Gustave Flaubert: "There is no truth.  There is only perception.". Up till now, nobody has disproved him, so I think he must be right, and Socrates - you must be wrong! (Ad ignorantiam fallacy or argument from ignorance - asserting the truth of any proposition on the basis that what is asserted has never been disproved)

Sophist 12: All of you are making me confused. Please stop or I'll be having a headache soon. (Ad misericordiam fallacy or appeal to pity).

Sophist 13: I totally disagree with you, Socrates. I heard my 2 neighbors having an argument over their stolen chickens last night and it was not resolved. Truth will never be found out through argument. (Anecdotal evidence fallacy - attempts to establish a proposition as fact or as a universal principle based solely on personal experience)

Sophist 14: Up till now, Socrates, you had always been right. I think it's about time for you to be wrong. (Gambler's fallacy - asserting that a normally random event, because it has recently followed a pattern, it is due or about to break that pattern)

Sophist 15: Since we cannot agree on this matter, I don't think it is possible for mankind to resolve this issue. (Hasty generalization fallacy - a conclusion or generalization inferred from limited information, inadequate evidence, or a limited sampling)

Sophist 16: If you need to contest ideas to find the truth, then we might as well do the opposite and simply agree with everyone. (Non-sequitur fallacy or "does not follow" - argument in which the conclusion has no apparent connection to the reasons or premises)

Sophist 17: Most people do not like to think too much about matters.  They just feel their way along intuitively.  So, let's not complicate things.  (Pragmatic fallacy - asserting something is true or preferable because it has practical advantages)

Sophist 18:  Truth cannot be objectively established.  Every person has his own way of looking at it. (Relativism fallacy)

Sophist 19:  Before you pursue truth, show us why falsehood is not sometimes acceptable. (Shifting the burden of proof)

Sophist 20: There is little real difference in most peoples' opinions.  After all, we are all human beings.  (Beard fallacy - discounting an argument or evidence on the basis that small or minor differences are not significant)

Sophist 21: Haven't you heard? Truth is with God; and God is the Truth. There are no two ways about it. They are inseparable. Socrates, you should talk to the men of God. They know from the bottom of their hearts that the only truth they need is God! (Argumentum ad nauseam fallacy - assertion by continuous repetition)

Sophist 22: I'm not a rich man.  I don't think I have the right to speak on this issue. (Ad crumenam fallacy/Appeal to wealth - wealth being the criterion of correctness)

Sophist 23: Hey, no way man! Only the poor have the conscience to speak the truth! (Ad lazarum fallacy/Appeal to poverty - the principle that the poor are more likely to be right or virtuous than the wealthy)


Sophist 24: Speak no more, Socrates!  If not, we will ignore you in the future. (Bandwagon fallacy - issuing a threat of rejection by one's peers as a substitute for evidence in an argument)

Sophist 25: Indeed, there is no need for further discussion.  All of us do not agree with you. It's 25 against 1.  So, you must be wrong! (Democratic fallacy - attempts to prove something is true (or right) based on the number of people who agree with, desire, or choose it)