Formal Fallacies
A formal fallacy is an error in logic that can be seen in the argument's form. All formal fallacies are specific types of non sequiturs.
- Appeal to probability – takes something for granted because it would probably be the case (or might be the case).
- Argument from fallacy – assumes that if an argument for some conclusion is fallacious, then the conclusion itself is false.
- Base rate fallacy – making a probability judgement based on conditional probabilities, without taking into account the effect of prior probabilities.
- Conjunction fallacy – assumption that an outcome simultaneously satisfying multiple conditions is more probable than an outcome satisfying a single one of them.
- Masked man fallacy (illicit substitution of identicals) – the substitution of identical designators in a true statement can lead to a false one.
Read more about this topic: Shotgun Argumentation
Famous quotes containing the word formal:
“It is in the nature of allegory, as opposed to symbolism, to beg the question of absolute reality. The allegorist avails himself of a formal correspondence between “ideas” and “things,” both of which he assumes as given; he need not inquire whether either sphere is “real” or whether, in the final analysis, reality consists in their interaction.”
—Charles, Jr. Feidelson, U.S. educator, critic. Symbolism and American Literature, ch. 1, University of Chicago Press (1953)