Non-Sequitur

An illogical conclusion from logical premises.

When Columbus first set foot upon American soil, he called this land India. This assumption was made on very vague premises. First, Columbus knew that the Earth was round, so seemingly he could reach India from the East or West. Second, he knew that he had sailed as far west as possible before coming across land. Finally, he concluded that he must be in India, not knowing that the American land mass was blocking his way.

False or Vague Premise

The facts or ideas an argument is based on are not true, or are insufficient to back up the argument.

A perfect modern day example of false premises would be the Bush administration's argument for invading Iraq. They knew that Saddam Hussein was a dictator and a brutal, uncooperative leader. They also claimed that Iraq possessed an arsenal of "weapons of mass destruction," i.e. biological, chemical, nuclear, or radiological weapons capable of "indiscriminately kill[ing] large numbers of human beings." The conclusion was made that Iraq would launch an attack upon other nations, and that the U.S. must take upon itself the responsibility to intervene on behalf of the welfare of mankind, and disarm Hussein's regime. After the invasion, however, a thorough inspection by both U.S. and U.N. sources found that Iraq held no such weapons.

Ad Hominem

Attacking the person making the argument instead of attacking the argument.

This thinking error is an especially appropriate topic to study as we enter the season of reelection. In every election commercial I have viewed recently, every commercial, without fail, I see this tactic employed. Senators, congressmen and women, and politicians of all rank and reputation will attack their opponents values and personal decisions. Evading a true debate, they aim instead to develop a smear campaign that will turn people in their favor.

Begging the Question

Using an argument as proof of itself.

Recently this type of argument has received widespread use regarding the controversy of Bin Laden' alleged death, now believed to be false. In many places I heard people's conviction that "Bin Laden is dead because we killed him." Unfortunately for the speaker, this argument is intrinsically false, because the second part of the statement, "because we killed him," assumes that the first part is true rather than proving that the first part is true.

Red Herring

An irrelevant comment made to distract people from the real issue.

Again, a popular tactic for politicians to use against their opponents. In the 2004 Presidential election this approach was used flagrantly by both George Bush and John kerry. Again, instead of head-to-head debate, they preferred to attack each other from a distance. George Bush especially used red herrings to back up his faltering evidence against John Kerry: he accused him of being a "flip-flopper."This altercation took a turn toward the humorous side of things with the release of Jib-Jab's video "This Land."

Note: I do not approve of Bush or Kerry, so even though I pick on Bush a number of times please do not consider this last argument particularly biased.