Monte Carlo

See Gambler's Fallacy.

Modal

This is the error of treating modal conditionals as if the modality applies only to the consequent of the conditional. "The" modal fallacy is the most well known of the infinitely many errors involving modal concepts, concepts such as necessity, possibility and so forth. A conditional is an if-then proposition. The consequent is the then-part, and the antecedent is the if-part.

Example:

If a proposition is true, then it can not be false. But if a proposition can not be false, then it is not only true but necessarily true. Therefore, if a proposition is true, then it's necessarily true.

The acceptable interpretation of the first premise, requires the modality to apply to the entire conditional in the sense that it really means "It's not possible that if a proposition is true, then it's false." However, the entire inference works only if the first premise is miscontrued as saying "If a proposition is true, then it is necessary that it's not false." To see that the misconstrual is unacceptable, pick a proposition such as "It's raining in Detroit." Let's suppose it actually is raining in Detroit. So, the antecedent of the misconstrual is true, but the consequent isn't, because it says "It is necessary that 'it's raining in Detroit' is not false." This isn't necessary, is it?

Missing the Point

See Irrelevant Conclusion.

Misrepresentation

If the misrepresentation occurs on purpose, then it is an example of lying. If the misrepresentation occurs during a debate in which there is misrepresentation of the opponent's claim, then it would be the cause of a straw man fallacy.

Misplaced Concreteness

Mistakenly supposing that something is a concrete object with independent existence, when it's not.

Example:

There are two footballs lying on the floor of an otherwise empty room. When asked to count all the objects in the room, John says there are three: the two balls plus the group of two.

John mistakenly supposed a group or set of concrete objects is also a concrete object.

Misleading Vividness

When the fallacy of jumping to conclusions is committed due to a special emphasis on an anecdote or other piece of evidence, then the fallacy of misleading vividness has occurred.

Example:

Yes, I read the side of the cigarette pack about smoking being harmful to your health. That's the Surgeon General's opinion, him and all his statistics. But let me tell you about my uncle. Uncle Harry has smoked cigarettes for forty years now and he's never been sick a day in his life. He even won a ski race at Lake Tahoe in his age group last year. You should have seen him zip down the mountain. He smoked a cigarette during the award ceremony, and he had a broad smile on his face. I was really proud. I can still remember the cheering. Cigarette smoking can't be as harmful as people say.

The vivid anecdote is the story about Uncle Harry. Too much emphasis is placed on it and not enough on the statistics from the Surgeon General.

Misconditionalization

See Modal Fallacy.

Many Questions

See Complex Question.