Editing Association fallacy (section)

{{Short description|Formal fallacy}}
{{Redirect|Guilt by association||Guilt by Association (disambiguation){{!}}Guilt by Association}}{{Redirect|Appeal to spite|appeals to spite based on the origins of an argument|Genetic fallacy}}{{For|the [[informal fallacy]] that applies a rule beyond its scope|Accident (fallacy)}}
The '''association fallacy''' is a [[formal fallacy]] that asserts that properties of one thing must also be properties of another thing if both things belong to the same group. For example, a fallacious arguer may claim that "bears are animals, and bears are dangerous; therefore your dog, which is also an animal, must be dangerous."

When it is an attempt to win favor by exploiting the audience's preexisting spite or disdain for something else, it is called '''guilt by association''' or an '''appeal to spite''' ({{langx|la|argumentum ad odium}}).<ref>{{cite web |last=Curtis |first=G. N. |title=Emotional Appeal |url=http://www.fallacyfiles.org/emotiona.html |quote=Appeal to [[wikt:Hatred|Hatred]] (AKA, ''Argumentum ad [[wikt:Odium|Odium]])''}}</ref> Guilt by association can be a component of [[ad hominem]] arguments which attack the speaker rather than addressing the claims, but they are a distinct class of fallacious argument, and both are able to exist independently of the other.