Special Pleading

Special pleading is a form of inconsistency in which the reasoner doesn't apply his or her principles consistently. It is the fallacy of applying a general principle to various situations but not applying it to a special situation that interests the arguer even though the general principle properly applies to that special situation, too.

Example:

Everyone has a duty to help the police do their job, no matter who the suspect is. That is why we must support investigations into corruption in the police department. No person is above the law. Of course, if the police come knocking on my door to ask about my neighbors and the robberies in our building, I know nothing. I'm not about to rat on anybody.

In our example, the principle of helping the police is applied to investigations of police officers but not to one's neighbors.

Questionable Premise

If you have sufficient background information to know that a premise is questionable or unlikely to be acceptable, then you commit this fallacy if you accept an argument based on that premise. This broad category of fallacies of argumentation includes appeal to authority, false dilemma, inconsistency, lying, stacking the deck, straw man, suppressed evidence, and many others.

Inconsistency

The fallacy occurs when we accept an inconsistent set of claims, that is, when we accept a claim that logically conflicts with other claims we hold.

Example:

I'm not racist. Some of my best friends are white. But I just don't think that white women love their babies as much as our women do.

That last remark implies the speaker is a racist, although the speaker doesn't notice the inconsistency.