QUESTION: What are common logical fallacies?

Critical thinking is impossible to imagine without understanding the basic laws of logic and the ability to recognize manipulation in discussions and the information field. People often use incorrect techniques intentionally or out of ignorance, substituting real facts with beautiful but empty formulations. Knowing the most common logical fallacies helps protect oneself from disinformation and build truly strong and convincing argumentation in any disputes.

One of the most frequent fallacies is the ad hominem attack, where instead of discussing the opponent's actual thesis, there is a direct attack on their personality, appearance, or past actions. This also includes the straw man fallacy—a manipulation where the opponent's position is intentionally distorted, exaggerated, or simplified to the point of absurdity, after which it is successfully refuted. A false dilemma narrows a rich reality down to just two polar options like "either you are with us or you are our enemy," even though alternative scenarios C, D, and so on always exist.

Equally dangerous is the appeal to authority, where the phrase of an abstract expert is brought in as ironclad proof without indicating their real qualifications, the context of the statement, and potential conflicts of interest. The slippery slope fallacy relies on intimidation that one small action will inevitably trigger a chain reaction of catastrophic events. Post hoc is based on the false assumption that if one event occurred after another, the first must have caused the second. This list concludes with circular argumentation, where a thesis is proven by practically itself.

To successfully counter these logical fallacies in everyday communication, use the following algorithm for analyzing other people's arguments.