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Informal Fallacies - Dr. Charles Ess

The initial overview page consists of a list of informal fallacies. The list is divided into Fallacies of Relevance, Fallacies of Presumption, and Additional Fallacies. Each fallacy is linked to a further page made up of examples of the fallacy and occasionally an explanation of the fallacy. This web site is a work in progress. Some links are to blank pages

Some of the apparent examples of a fallacy are not really instances of the fallacy. An appeal to authority, e.g., may provide a good reason for a change in ones behavior, as long as the authority is a person with the relevant competence and good will. Furthermore, a bad argument may involve more than one fallacy. The same bad argument might appear in more than one category.

An added resource is a link to an outline of basic steps for analyzing arguments.

The strength of this site consists in the large number of examples of fallacies along with merely apparent fallacies. However, the site is of uneven quality. For example, the page on the Slippery Slope fallacy includes a full explanation of the fallacy as well as clear examples. The Ad Baculum page contains two helpful examples. The Tu Quoque page is completely empty. Of course, Dr. Ess is clear that this is a work in progress.