A non sequitur is when a conclusion does not follow logically from the premises used to support it.An example of this from our text is:
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man. Therefore:
All men are Socrates.
This is flat out wrong because Socrates was only one man and clearly not every single person is Socrates.
An example of this that i have experienced is: Rugby players are violent. I play Rugby. Therefore: I am violent.
This is not true at all. I am not a violent person. I believe we should settle things with peace.
These result when the premises are supposedly true, but the conclusion does not follow. This can also happen when you arrive at a logical conclusion from the premises but the premises are either false or vague, making the conclusion false.
One example our book gives is when you have two false premises, but a conclusion still follows:
All people are Catholic. My dog is a person. Therefore: My dog is a Catholic.
This is crazy because a dog is not a person. Dogs are not capable of Self-Consciousness and Abstract Thought. Because of this false premise, the Conclusion is false.
Ad Hominem is when you attack a quality in the person instead of attacking the person's argument.
An example of this is when my brother and I are arguing. I will make a point about how the Blues are better than the Penguins. He will respond by saying "Well at least I play hockey!".
This is exactly what Ad Hominem means.
A person is begging the question when they try to prove their poing true in an argument when they assume that it is already true.
An example of this would be:
James:"SLUH is the best because we are the smartest."
George:"How do you know SLUH is the smartest?"
James:"Because SLUH is the best."
This argument will not go anywhere because James is just assuming that SLUH is the best because we are the smartest and that is his answer to the question (In no way am I saying that SLUH is the best because we are the smartest because this is not true.).
A Red Herring is when someone during an argument throws in something totally random that is intended to change the subject completely.
A good example of this is in the movie Clue when Wadsworth says in the middle of the final scene of the movie "Communism is just a Red Herring". This has absolutely nothing to do with the scene at all! He does it to distract the guests from remembering that he was the murderer.
