Straw Man Fallacy

“Homework should be limited in younger grades.”
“If kids never do homework, they’ll fall behind.”

You commit the straw man fallacy when you respond to a misrepresented version of someone's argument. In the above example, the first claim allows some homework; the reply attacks a different and more extreme claim that we shouldn't have homework at all.

It’s called the straw man fallacy because instead of attacking the real argument, you attack a flimsy stand-in (a straw man) that’s much easier to knock down than the real thing.

Straw man arguments are often made by ignoring or changing small but important words that add context, conditions, and nuance (some, usually, during peak season, up to, at least, might, likely, etc.).

Here’s a common example:
“You should only eat natural things.” (appeal to nature fallacy)
“But uranium is natural.” (straw man fallacy)

That reply is a straw man because it responds to the claim, “You should eat every natural thing,” which the first person never said. The straw man was built by changing only to every.

A better habit is steel-manning. That means restating the strongest, most reasonable version of the other person’s point and asking if you got it right before critiquing it. If your criticism still holds against that version, you likely have a solid argument. If it only works against a weaker version, you were probably attacking a straw man.

Next fallacy (Bandwagon Fallacy)

Back to the Logical Fallacy Handbook

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