FALLACY | LIST OF FALLACIES

"LIST OF FALLACIES

Divine fallacy (argument from incredulity) – arguing that, because something is so incredible or amazing, it must be the result of superior, divine, alien or paranormal agency

False authority (single authority) – using an expert of dubious credentials or using only one opinion to sell a product or idea. Related to the appeal to authority (not always fallacious).

Magical thinking – fallacious attribution of causal relationships between actions and events. In anthropology, it refers primarily to cultural beliefs that ritual, prayer, sacrifice, and taboos will produce specific supernatural consequences. In psychology, it refers to an irrational belief that thoughts by themselves can affect the world or that thinking something corresponds with doing it."-wikipedia

And of course the seeming favorite of late:

"Ad hominem – attacking the arguer instead of the argument." -wikipedia

But I will extend it to say that it is not only attacking the arguer, but also the authors cited by the arguer.   I mean even in worst case scenario were the authors cited are known liars, guess what?  ATTACKING THE AUTHORS IS NOT AN ARGUMENT.  THE ACTUAL MERITS OF THE ARGUMENTS MUST STILL BE ADDRESSED AND CANNOT BE DISMISSED OUT OF HAND BY VIRTUE OF THE AD HOMINEM.  What they present, the evidence, or argument must be directly addressed, simply throwing ad hominem at a cited author does not mean they can't be right.     Even people who are mistaken most of the time can still be right some of the time, and you can't prove that this time is also one of the times they're mistaken even if it is more likely to be so.