Question

what is Straw man and what type of error is this

Answer 1

A straw man argument is a rhetoric technique where someone distorts their opponent’s argument in order to make it easier to attack. The person using the strawman pretends to refute their opponent’s argument, while in reality they refute a different argument, which doesn’t accurately portray their opponent’s original stance .Straw man is onetype of logical fallacy (a fallacy is an argument or belief based on erroneous reasoning).It occurs when someone argues that a personholds a view that is actually not what the other person believes. Instead, it is a distorted version of what the person believes.

This technique has been used throughout history in polemical debate, particularly in arguments about highly charged emotional issues where a fiery "battle" and the defeat of an "enemy" may be more valued than critical thinking or an understanding of both sides of the issue.

Straw man arguments often arise in public debates such as a (hypothetical) prohibition debate:

Example 1

A: We should relax the laws on beer.

B: No, any society with unrestricted access to intoxicants loses its work ethic and goes only for immediate gratification.

The original proposal was to relax laws on beer. Person B has misconstrued/misrepresented this proposal by responding to it as if it had been something like "unrestricted access to intoxicants." It is a logical fallacy because Person A never advocated allowing said unrestricted access to intoxicants.

Example-2 Student tells his professor that he thinks some of Hillary Clinton's positions have merit. Professor says he can't believe that the student supports giving access to classified documents to foreign countries.