Latin="it does not follow"
A non sequitur is when a conclusion does not logically follow from the two premises. For example:
Premise 1: My cat is black.
Premise 2: My shoe is black.
Conclusion: My cat is my shoe.
Obviously, my cat is not my shoe, and thus this is a non sequitur.
This non sequitur goes as follows:
Pemise 1: Pets can be neutered.
Premise 2: You have weird friends and relatives.
Conclusion: You must neuter your weird friends and relatives.
The premises are true, but the conclusion is very distorted.
False or vague premises occur when one or both of the premises are either not true or very general in nature. As a result, the conclusion os false. For example:
Premise 1: I am God.
Premise 2: God is all-powerful
Conclusion: I am all-powerful
This statement's first premise is false in that I am not God. And then the concluding statement is also false in that I am not all-powerful.
This link goes to information on a book on how to make stronger arguments through good reasons. The book is called "Good Reasons for Better Arguments" by Jerome E. Bickenbach and Jacqueline MacGregor Davies.
This link goes to a printout of a seminar given at the University of Chicago called "Vagueness, Context Dependence and Interest Relativity."
3. Ad Hominem
Latin="against the man"
In an "ad hominem," instead of one attacking the argument of the other person, he or she attacks the other person's qualities that are not directly linked to the argument. For example:
In this desperate attempt made by wide receiver Kevin Dyson to reach the endzone, he fails to score on a tackle by linebacker Mike Jones. But in this picture, the artist attacks Kevin Dyson himself, saying that his "best just isn't good enough." What the artist should have said was that Dyson should have run a better pass pattern or should have read the defense better.
This website states "ad hominem" in very simple terms. This book, called "Ad Hominem Arguments" by Douglas N. Walton, analyzes the history of "ad hominem" arguments in America and then divides "ad hominem" into different categories.
4. Begging the Question
When someone is "begging the question," he or she is presuming something is already true, such as in this example:
This philosopher assumes that the soul lives forever and does not die because it is immortal. But the philosopher just presumes this without no actual evidence.
A link about for more information about begging the question is here. And then this interesting article about begging the question that is involved with traveling is on this link from Yahoo.
5. Red Herring
Finally, a red herring in an argument is the attempt to avoid the argument by striking up a conversation about something totally unrelated to the argument or discussion. In the picture above is a type of red herring. The poster describes various topics in name only, and it does not go into detail on any one of them.
This webpage goes into detail explaining the etymology, the history, and the exposure of a red herring. This Q&A on Yahoo describes the interesting history of the term "red herring."
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