Argumentum advert Baculum (“Argument from the Club.” Also, “Argumentum advert Baculam,” “Argument from Strength,” “Muscular Leadership,” “Non-negotiable Demands,” “Hard Power,” Bullying, The ability-Play, Fascism, Resolution by Force of Arms, Shock and Awe.): The fallacy of “persuasion” or “proving one is right” by pressure, violence, brutality, terrorism, superior energy, raw military may, or threats of violence. E.g., “Gimmee your wallet or I’ll knock your head off!” or “We’ve got the proper right to take your land, since we have the big guns and you don’t.” Also applies to indirect types of risk. E.g., “Surrender your foolish delight, kneel down and accept our religion today if you do not need to burn in hell endlessly and ever!” A mainly discursive Argumentum advert Baculum is that of forcibly silencing opponents, ruling them “out of order,” blocking, censoring or jamming their message, or just speaking over them or/speaking more loudly than they do, this last a tactic notably attributed to men in combined-gender discussions. Argumentum advert Mysteriam (“Argument from Mystery;” also Mystagogy.): A darkened chamber, incense, chanting or drumming, bowing and kneeling, special robes or headgear, holy rituals and massed voices reciting sacred mysteries in an unknown tongue have a quasi-hypnotic impact and can typically persuade more strongly than any logical argument. The Puritan Reformation was in giant part a rejection of this fallacy. When used knowingly and intentionally this fallacy is particularly vicious and accounts for some of the fearsome persuasive energy of cults. An instance of an Argumentum advert Mysteriam is the “Long ago and far Away” fallacy, the fact that info, proof, practices or arguments from historic occasions, distant lands and/or “exotic” cultures seem to acquire a particular gravitas or ethos merely due to their antiquity, language or origin, e.g., publicly chanting Holy Scriptures in their original (most often incomprehensible) historical languages, preferring the Greek, Latin, Assyrian or Old Slavonic Christian Liturgies over their vernacular versions, or using traditional or newly invented Greek and Latin names for fallacies with a purpose to support their validity. See also, Esoteric Knowledge. An obverse of the Argumentum advert Mysteriam is the usual Version Fallacy.
Argumentum ex Silentio (Argument from Silence): The fallacy that if available sources remain silent or current data and proof can prove nothing about a given topic or question this reality in itself proves the reality of 1’s claim. E.g., “Science can tell us nothing about God. That proves God doesn’t exist.” Or “Science admits it may well tell us nothing about God, so that you can’t deny that God exists!” Often misused in the American justice system, the place, opposite to the fifth Amendment and the authorized presumption of innocence till confirmed guilty, remaining silent or “taking the Fifth” is often falsely portrayed as proof of guilt. E.g., “Mr. Hixon can supply no alibi for his whereabouts the evening of January 15th. This proves that he was in actual fact in room 331 on the Smuggler’s Inn, murdering his spouse with a hatchet!” In right this moment’s America, selecting to remain silent in the face of a police officer’s questions could make one guilty sufficient to be arrested and even shot. See also, Argument from Ignorance. Availability Bias (additionally, Attention Bias, Anchoring Bias): A fallacy of logos stemming from the pure tendency to present undue consideration and significance to info that is instantly out there at hand, particularly the first or final info received, and to attenuate or ignore broader knowledge or wider evidence that clearly exists but is just not as easily remembered or accessed. E.g., “We all know from expertise that this doesn’t work,” when “expertise” means the most recent local attempt, ignoring overwhelming expertise from different locations and times the place it has worked and does work. Also associated is the fallacy of Hyperbole [also, Magnification, or generally Catastrophizing] the place an instantaneous occasion is instantly proclaimed “the most significant in all of human historical past,” or the “worst in the whole world!” This latter fallacy works extraordinarily nicely with less-educated audiences and people whose “complete world” is very small indeed, audiences who “hate history” and whose historical reminiscence spans several weeks at greatest.
The Bandwagon Fallacy (additionally, Argument from Common Sense, Argumentum advert Populum): The fallacy of arguing that as a result of “everybody,” “the people,” or “the majority” (or someone in energy who has widespread backing) supposedly thinks or does something, it should therefore be true and right. E.g., “Whether there actually is large scale voter fraud in America or not, many people now think there’s and that makes it so.” Sometimes also includes Lying with Statistics, e.g. “Over 75% of Americans consider that crooked Bob Hodiak is a thief, a liar and a pervert. There is probably not any evidence, however for anyone with half a mind that conclusively proves that Crooked Bob ought to go to jail! Lock him up! Lock him up!” This is sometimes combined with the “Argumentum ad Baculum,” e.g., “Like it or not, it is time to choose sides: Are you going to get on board the bandwagon with everyone else, or get crushed under the wheels because it goes by?” Or within the 2017 phrases of former White House spokesperson Sean Spicer, “”They should both get with this system or they can go,” A contemporary digital type of the Bandwagon Fallacy is the knowledge Cascade, “in which individuals echo the opinions of others, often on-line, even when their very own opinions or exposure to information contradicts that opinion. When information cascades form a sample, this sample can begin to overpower later opinions by making it appear as if a consensus already exists.” (Thanks to Teaching Tolerance for this definition!) See additionally Wisdom of the gang, and The large Lie Technique. For the alternative of this fallacy see the Romantic Rebel fallacy. The massive Brain/Little Brain Fallacy (additionally, the Führerprinzip; Mad Leader Disease): A not-uncommon however extreme instance of the Blind Loyalty Fallacy beneath, through which a tyrannical boss, army commander, or religious or cult-chief tells followers “Don’t assume with your little brains (the brain in your head), however together with your Big brain (mine).” This final is sometimes expressed in constructive phrases, i.e., “You do not have to fret and stress out concerning the rightness or wrongness of what you are doing since I, the Leader. am assuming all moral and authorized duty for all your actions. So lengthy as you are faithfully following orders with out query I will defend you and gladly settle for all the consequences as much as and including eternal damnation if I’m unsuitable.” The alternative of that is the fallacy of “Plausible Deniability.” See additionally, “Just Do It!”, and “Gaslighting.” The massive “But” Fallacy (additionally, Special Pleading): The fallacy of enunciating a generally-accepted precept and then instantly negating it with a “however.” Often this takes the type of the “Special Case,” which is supposedly exempt from the same old rules of law, logic, morality, ethics or even credibility E.g., “As Americans we have always believed on precept that each human being has God-given, inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, including within the case of criminal accusations a good and speedy trial before a jury of one’s friends. But, your crime was so unspeakable and a trial would be so problematic for nationwide safety that it justifies locking you up for life in Guantanamo with out trial, conviction or possibility of attraction.” Or, “Yes, Honey, I nonetheless love you greater than life itself, and I do know that in my wedding ceremony vows I promised before God that I’d forsake all others and be faithful to you ’till loss of life do us part,’ but you might have to grasp, this was a special case…” See additionally, “Shopping Hungry,” and “We Have to do Something!” The big Lie Technique (additionally the Bold Faced Lie; “Staying on Message.”): The contemporary fallacy of repeating a lie, fallacy, slogan, speaking-level, nonsense-assertion or deceptive half-truth time and again in several types (significantly within the media) until it turns into a part of daily discourse and folks settle for it without additional proof or evidence. Sometimes the bolder and extra outlandish the massive Lie becomes the more credible it appears to a keen, most often indignant audience. E.g., “What about the Jewish Problem?” Note that when this specific phony debate was occurring there was no “Jewish Problem,” solely a Nazi Problem, however hardly anyone in power recognized or wanted to talk about that, while far too many odd Germans had been only too able to discover a convenient scapegoat to blame for their suffering during the nice Depression. Writer Miles J. Brewer expertly demolishes The large Lie Technique in his traditional (1930) quick story, “The Gostak and the Doshes.” However, more contemporary examples of the massive Lie fallacy is likely to be the fully fictitious August 4, 1964 “Tonkin Gulf Incident” concocted underneath Lyndon Johnson as a false justification for escalating the Vietnam War, or the non-existent “Weapons of Mass Destruction” in Iraq (conveniently abbreviated “WMD’s” to be able to lend this Big Lie a legitimizing, military-sounding “Alphabet Soup” ethos), used in 2003 as a false justification for the Second Gulf War. The November, 2016 U.S. President-elect’s assertion that “tens of millions” of ineligible votes had been cast in that yr’s American. presidential election appears to be a classic Big Lie. See additionally, Alternative Truth; The Bandwagon Fallacy, the Straw Man, Alphabet Soup, and Propaganda. Blind Loyalty (also Blind Obedience, Unthinking Obedience, the “Team Player” appeal, the Nuremberg Defense): The harmful fallacy that an argument or motion is right merely and solely as a result of a revered chief or source (a President, professional, one’s parents, one’s own “aspect,” crew or country, one’s boss or commanding officers) says it is right. This is over-reliance on authority, a gravely corrupted argument from ethos that places loyalty above reality, above one’s own reason and above conscience. On this case an individual attempts to justify incorrect, stupid or criminal conduct by whining “That’s what I used to be advised to do,” or “I was just following orders.” See additionally, The massive Brain/Little Brain Fallacy, and The “Soldiers’ Honor” Fallacy. Blood is Thicker than Water (additionally Favoritism; Compadrismo; “For my associates, something.”): The reverse of the “Ad Hominem” fallacy, a corrupt argument from ethos where an announcement, argument or motion is robotically considered true, correct and above challenge because one is related to, knows and likes, or is on the same workforce or facet, or belongs to the same religion, social gathering, club or fraternity as the individual involved. (E.g., “My brother-in-legislation says he saw you goofing off on the job. You’re a tough worker but who am I going to imagine, you or him? You’re fired!”) See additionally the Identity Fallacy. Brainwashing (also, Propaganda, “Radicalization.”): The Cold War-era fantasy that an enemy can immediately win over or “radicalize” an unsuspecting viewers with their vile however someway unspeakably persuasive “propaganda,” e.g., “Don’t have a look at that web site! They’re trying to brainwash you with their propaganda!” Historically, “brainwashing” refers extra properly to the inhuman Argumentum advert Baculum of “beating an argument into” a prisoner through a mix of ache, fear, sensory or sleep deprivation, extended abuse and sophisticated psychological manipulation (also, the “Stockholm Syndrome.”). Such “brainwashing” can also be accomplished by pleasure (“Love Bombing,”); e.g., “Did you like that? I do know you did. Well, there’s heaps more where that got here from once you signal on with us!” (See additionally, “Bribery.”) An unspeakably sinister form of persuasion by brainwashing entails intentionally addicting an individual to medicine after which offering or withholding the substance depending on the addict’s compliance. Note: Only the opposite aspect brainwashes. “We” never brainwash. Bribery (additionally, Material Persuasion, Material Incentive, Financial Incentive). The fallacy of “persuasion” by bribery, gifts or favors is the reverse of the Argumentum advert Baculum. As is well-known, someone who’s persuaded by bribery not often “stays persuaded” in the long term unless the bribes carry on coming in and growing with time. See also Appeasement. Calling “Cards”: A contemporary fallacy of logos, arbitrarily and falsely dismissing acquainted or easily-anticipated but valid, reasoned objections to one’s standpoint with a wave of the hand, as mere “cards” in some kind of “game” of rhetoric, e.g. “Don’t try to play the ‘Race Card’ in opposition to me,” or “She’s taking part in the ‘Woman Card’ once more,” or “That ‘Hitler Card’ will not score with me in this argument.” See additionally, The Taboo, and Political Correctness. Circular Reasoning (also, The Vicious Circle; Catch 22, Begging the Question, Circulus in Probando): A fallacy of logos where A is due to B, and B is due to A, e.g., “You can’t get a job without expertise, and you cannot get expertise with no job.” Also refers to falsely arguing that something is true by repeating the identical assertion in different words. E.g., “The witchcraft problem is probably the most pressing spiritual crisis on the planet today. Why? Because witches threaten our very eternal salvation.” A corrupt argument from logos. See also the “Big Lie approach.” The Complex Question: The contemporary fallacy of demanding a direct answer to a query that can’t be answered with out first analyzing or difficult the basis of the question itself. E.g., “Just answer me ‘sure’ or ‘no’: Did you suppose you could get away with plagiarism and never undergo the results?” Or, “Why did you rob that bank?” Also applies to situations where one is compelled to either settle for or reject complex standpoints or propositions containing each acceptable and unacceptable parts. A corruption of the argument from logos. A counterpart of Either/Or Reasoning. Confirmation Bias: A fallacy of logos, the frequent tendency to note, search out, choose and share proof that confirms one’s own standpoint and beliefs, as opposed to contrary evidence. This fallacy is how “fortune tellers” work–If I am informed I will meet a “tall, dark stranger” I will be on the lookout for a tall, dark stranger, and after i meet somebody even marginally assembly that description I will marvel on the correctness of the “psychic’s” prediction. In contemporary occasions Confirmation Bias is most often seen within the tendency of varied audiences to “curate their political environments, subsisting on one-sided information diets and [even] selecting into politically homogeneous neighborhoods” (Michael A. Neblo et al., 2017, Science journal). Confirmation Bias (also, Homophily) means that individuals tend to search out and follow solely those media retailers that affirm their widespread ideological and cultural biases, typically to an degree that leads a the false (implicit and even explicit) conclusion that “everybody” agrees with that bias and that anyone who doesn’t is “crazy,” “looney,” evil and even “radicalized.” See additionally, “Half Truth,” and “Defensiveness.” Cost Bias: A fallacy of ethos (that of a product), the fact that one thing expensive (either in terms of cash, or one thing that is “hard fought” or “hard gained” or for which one “paid dearly”) is usually valued more extremely than one thing obtained free or cheaply, whatever the item’s actual quality, utility or true worth to the purchaser. E. g., “Hey, I labored hard to get this automobile! It may be nothing however a clunker that can’t make it up a steep hill, however it is mine, and to me it’s higher than some millionaire’s limo.” Also applies to judging the standard of a client item (or even of its proprietor!) primarily by the item’s brand, price, label or supply, e.g., “Hey, you there within the Jay-Mart go well with! Har-har!” or, “Ooh, she’s driving a Mercedes!” Default Bias: (additionally, Normalization of Evil, “Deal with it;” “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it;” Acquiescence; “Making one’s peace with the situation;” “Get used to it;” “Whatever is, is correct;” “It’s what it is;” “Let it be, let it’s;” “That is the best of all potential worlds [or, the only doable world];” “Better the satan you know than the devil you don’t.”): The logical fallacy of routinely favoring or accepting a situation simply because it exists proper now, and arguing that any other various is mad, unthinkable, unimaginable, or not less than would take too much effort, expense, stress or risk to change. The other of this fallacy is that of Nihilism (“Tear it all down!”), blindly rejecting what exists in favor of what could possibly be, the adolescent fantasy of romanticizing anarchy, chaos (an ideology generally known as political “Chaos Theory”), disorder, “everlasting revolution,” or change for change’s sake. Defensiveness (additionally, Choice-help Bias: Myside Bias): A fallacy of ethos (one’s personal), by which after one has taken a given choice, dedication or course of action, one automatically tends to defend that call and to irrationally dismiss opposing options even when one’s decision later on proves to be shaky or improper. E.g., “Yeah, I voted for Snith. Sure, he turned out to be a crook and a liar and he obtained us into struggle, however I nonetheless say that at the moment he was better than the available alternatives!” See additionally “Argument from Inertia” and “Confirmation Bias.” Deliberate Ignorance: (also, Closed-mindedness; “I don’t want to hear it!”; Motivated Ignorance; Tuning Out; Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil [The Three Monkeys’ Fallacy]): As described by writer and commentator Brian Resnik on Vox.com (2017), this is the fallacy of simply selecting to not listen, “tuning out” or turning off any information, proof or arguments that problem one’s beliefs, ideology, standpoint, or peace of thoughts, following the favored humorous dictum: “Don’t attempt to confuse me with the facts; my mind is made up!” This seemingly innocuous fallacy has enabled the most vicious tyrannies and abuses over historical past, and continues to do so at present. See also Trust your Gut, Confirmation Bias, The Third Person Effect, “They’re All Crooks,” the Simpleton’s Fallacy, and The Positive Thinking Fallacy. Diminished Responsibility: The frequent contemporary fallacy of making use of a specialised judicial concept (that criminal punishment ought to be less if one’s judgment was impaired) to reality typically. E.g., “You can’t count me absent on Monday–I used to be hung over and could not come to class so it is not my fault.” Or, “Yeah, I used to be speeding on the freeway and killed a man, but I used to be buzzed out of my thoughts and did not know what I used to be doing so it did not matter that a lot.” In reality the dying does matter very a lot to the sufferer, to his household and associates and to society typically. Whether the perpetrator was excessive or not doesn’t matter at all since the fabric results are the same. This also includes the fallacy of Panic, a very common contemporary fallacy that one’s words or actions, regardless of how damaging or evil, somehow do not “count” because “I panicked!” This fallacy is rooted within the confusion of “consequences” with “punishment.” See also “Venting.” Disciplinary Blinders: A quite common contemporary scholarly or skilled fallacy of ethos (that of one’s discipline, profession or tutorial discipline), mechanically disregarding, discounting or ignoring a priori otherwise-relevant research, arguments and proof that come from outside one’s personal skilled discipline, discourse neighborhood or academic area of examine. E.g., “That is likely to be relevant or not, however it is so not what we’re doing in our field right now.” See additionally, “Star Power” and “Two Truths.” An analogous fallacy is that of Denominational Blinders, arbitrarily ignoring or waving aside without critical consideration any arguments or dialogue about religion, morality, ethics, spirituality, the Divine or the afterlife that come from outdoors one’s own particular religious denomination or faith tradition. Dog-Whistle Politics: An extreme model of reductionism and sloganeering in the general public sphere, a contemporary fallacy of logos and pathos through which a short phrase or slogan of the hour, e.g., “Abortion,” “The 1%,” “9/11,” “Zionism,””Chain Migration,” “Islamic Terrorism,” “Fascism,” “Communism,” “Big government,” “Taco trucks!”, “Tax and tax and spend and spend,” “Gun violence,” “Gun control,” “Freedom of selection,” “Lock ’em up,”, “Amnesty,” and many others. is flung out as “red meat” or “chum within the water” that reflexively sends one’s viewers right into a snapping, foaming-at-the-mouth feeding-frenzy. Any reasoned try and more clearly establish, deconstruct or problem an opponent’s “dog whistle” enchantment leads to puzzled confusion at greatest and wild, irrational fury at worst. “Dog whistles” differ widely in several locations, moments and cultural milieux, and they change and lose or acquire energy so quickly that even current historic texts generally develop into extraordinarily tough to interpret. A standard but unhappy occasion of the fallacy of Dog Whistle Politics is that of candidate “debaters” of differing political shades simply blowing a succession of discursive “dog whistles” at their audience as a substitute of addressing, refuting or even bothering to listen to each other’s arguments, a scenario leading to contemporary (2017) allegations that the political Right and Left in America are speaking “different languages” when they’re merely blowing different “dog whistles.” See also, Reductionism.. The “Draw Your individual Conclusion” Fallacy (additionally the Non-argument Argument; Let the Facts Speak for Themselves). On this fallacy of logos an in any other case uninformed audience is offered with carefully selected and groomed, “shocking info” and then prompted to immediately “draw their very own conclusions.” E.g., “Crime charges are greater than twice as high amongst center-class Patzinaks than amongst any other related population group–draw your own conclusions.” It’s well-known that those who are allowed to “come to their very own conclusions” are generally far more strongly convinced than those who are given both evidence and conclusion up entrance. However, Dr. William Lorimer points out that “The only rational response to the non-argument is ‘So what?’ i.e. ‘What do you suppose you have proved, and why/how do you think you have proved it?'” Closely related (if not similar) to that is the effectively-identified “Leading the Witness” Fallacy, the place a sham, sarcastic or biased query is asked solely with a purpose to evoke a desired answer. The Dunning-Kruger Effect: A cognitive bias that leads people of limited abilities or information to mistakenly consider their talents are greater than they really are. (Because of Teaching Tolerance for this definition!) E.g., “I do know Washington was the Father of His Country and never informed a lie, Pocahontas was the first Native American, Lincoln freed the slaves, Hitler murdered six million Jews, Susan B. Anthony gained equal rights for women, and Martin Luther King said “I have a dream!” Moses parted the Red Sea, Caesar stated “Et tu, Brute?” and the one cause America didn’t win the Vietnam War hands-down like we all the time do was because they tied our generals’ hands and the politicians reduce and run. See? Why do I must take a historical past course? I know the whole lot about history!” E” for Effort. (additionally Noble Effort; I’m Trying My Best; The Lost Cause): The widespread contemporary fallacy of ethos that one thing should be right, true, precious, or worthy of respect and honor solely as a result of one (or another person) has put a lot honest good-faith effort and even sacrifice and bloodshed into it. (See additionally Appeal to Pity; Argument from Inertia; Heroes All; or Sob Story). An excessive example of this fallacy is Waving the Bloody Shirt (also, the “Blood of the Martyrs” Fallacy), the fallacy that a cause or argument, regardless of how questionable or reprehensible, cannot be questioned without dishonoring the blood and sacrifice of those that died so nobly for that cause. E.g., “Defend the patriotic gore / That flecked the streets of Baltimore…” (from the official Maryland State Song). See additionally Cost Bias, The Soldier’s Honor Fallacy, and the Argument from Inertia. Either/Or Reasoning: (additionally False Dilemma, All or Nothing Thinking; False Dichotomy, Black/White Fallacy, False Binary): A fallacy of logos that falsely affords solely two possible options regardless that a broad vary of possible alternate options, variations and combos are all the time readily out there. E.g., “Either you are 100% Simon Straightarrow or you are as queer as a 3 dollar invoice–it’s as simple as that and there isn’t any center ground!” Or, “Either you’re in with us all the way or you’re a hostile and have to be destroyed! What’s it gonna be?” Or, in case your performance is anything wanting excellent, you consider your self an abject failure. Also applies to falsely contrasting one option or case to another that’s probably not opposed, e.g., falsely opposing “Black Lives Matter” to “Blue Lives Matter” when actually not just a few police officers are themselves African American, and African Americans and police will not be (or ought not to be!) pure enemies. Or, falsely posing a selection of both helping needy American veterans or helping needy foreign refugees, when in fact in right now’s United States there are ample resources accessible to simply do each should we care to take action. See also, Overgeneralization. Equivocation: The fallacy of deliberately failing to outline one’s terms, or knowingly and deliberately utilizing words in a special sense than the one the audience will understand. (E.g., President Bill Clinton stating that he didn’t have sexual relations with “that lady,” that means no sexual penetration, knowing full effectively that the audience will understand his statement as “I had no sexual contact of any variety with that girl.”) This can be a corruption of the argument from logos, and a tactic often used in American jurisprudence. Historically, this referred to a tactic used during the Reformation-period religious wars in Europe, when people had been pressured to swear loyalty to one or another aspect and did as demanded via “equivocation,” i.e., “Once i solemnly swore true religion and allegiance to the King I actually meant to King Jesus, King of Kings, and to not the evil usurper squatting on the throne as we speak.” This latter type of fallacy is excessively uncommon at the moment when the swearing of oaths has develop into successfully meaningless except as obscenity or as speech formally topic to perjury penalties in authorized or judicial settings. The Eschatological Fallacy: The historic fallacy of arguing, “This world is coming to an finish, so…” Popularly refuted by the observation that “For the reason that world is coming to an finish you will not need your life savings anyhow, so why not give it all to me?” Esoteric Knowledge (additionally Esoteric Wisdom; Gnosticism; Inner Truth; the Inner Sanctum; Have to Know): A fallacy from logos and ethos, that there is some data reserved just for the Wise, the Holy or the Enlightened, (or those with correct Security Clearance), issues that the masses can’t understand and don’t should know, no less than not until they turn out to be wiser, extra trusted or extra “spiritually advanced.” The counterpart of this fallacy is that of Obscurantism (also Obscurationism, or Willful Ignorance), that (virtually always stated in a basso profundo voice) “There are some issues that we mere mortals must never search to know!” E.g., “Scientific experiments that violate the privateness of the marital bed and expose the deep and non-public mysteries of human sexual behavior to the cruel mild of science are obscene, sinful and morally evil. There are some issues that we as humans are merely not meant to know!” For the opposite of this latter, see the “Plain Truth Fallacy.” See additionally, Argumentum advert Mysteriam. Essentializing: A fallacy of logos that proposes a person or thing “is what it’s and that’s all that it’s,” and at its core will always be the way it is correct now (E.g., “All terrorists are monsters, and can still be terrorist monsters even if they live to be 100,” or “‘The poor you’ll always have with you,’ so any effort to remove poverty is pointless.”). Also refers back to the fallacy of arguing that something is a certain method “by nature,” an empty declare that no amount of proof can refute. (E.g., “Americans are chilly and greedy by nature,” or “Women are naturally better cooks than males.”) See additionally “Default Bias.” The opposite of that is Relativizing, the usually postmodern fallacy of blithely dismissing any and all arguments in opposition to one’s standpoint by shrugging one’s shoulders and responding ” Whatever…, I don’t feel like arguing about it;” “It all depends…;” “That’s your opinion; every part’s relative;” or falsely invoking Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Quantum Weirdness or the theory of Multiple Universes with the intention to confuse, mystify or “refute” an opponent. See additionally, “Red Herring” and “Appeal to Nature.” The Etymological Fallacy: (additionally, “The Underlying Meaning”): A fallacy of logos, drawing false conclusions from the (most often long-forgotten) linguistic origins of a present phrase, or the alleged meanings or associations of that word in another language. E.g., “As utilized in physics, electronics and electrical engineering the time period ‘hysteresis’ is grossly sexist because it initially came from the Greek word for ‘uterus’ or ‘womb.'” Or, “I refuse to eat fish! Don’t you already know that the French phrase for “fish” is ‘poisson,’ which appears simply just like the English word ‘poison’? And does not that counsel something to you?” Famously, postmodern philosopher Jacques Derrida performed on this fallacy at nice length in his (1968) “Plato’s Pharmacy.” The Excluded Middle: A corrupted argument from logos that proposes that since a bit of of something is nice, more must be higher (or that if less of one thing is nice, none in any respect is even higher). E.g., “If consuming an apple a day is sweet for you, consuming an all-apple weight loss plan is even higher!” or “If a low fats weight-reduction plan prolongs your life, a no-fat weight-reduction plan ought to make you live forever!” An reverse of this fallacy is that of Excluded Outliers, where one arbitrarily discards proof, examples or results that disprove one’s standpoint by simply describing them as “Weird,” “Outliers,” or “Atypical.” See additionally, “The massive ‘But’ Fallacy.” Also reverse is the Middle of the Road Fallacy (also, Falacia advert Temperantiam; “The Politics of the middle;” Marginalization of the Adversary), the place one demonstrates the “reasonableness” of 1’s own standpoint (no matter how extreme) not on its own deserves, however solely or primarily by presenting it as the only “reasonable” path among two or more obviously unacceptable excessive alternatives. E.g., anti-Communist scholar Charles Roig (1979) notes that Vladimir Lenin efficiently argued for Bolshevism in Russia as the one accessible “moderate” center path between bomb-throwing Nihilist terrorists on the extremely-left and a corrupt and hated Czarist autocracy on the suitable. As Texas politician and humorist Jim Hightower famously declares in an undated quote, “The middle of the highway is for yellow traces and useless armadillos.” The “F-Bomb” (additionally Cursing; Obscenity; Profanity). An adolescent fallacy of pathos, trying to defend or strengthen one’s argument with gratuitous, unrelated sexual, obscene, vulgar, crude or profane language when such language does nothing to make an argument stronger, apart from perhaps to create a sense of identity with certain younger male “urban” audiences. This fallacy additionally includes adding gratuitous sex scenes or “adult” language to an otherwise unrelated novel or movie, sometimes merely to avoid the dreaded “G” score. Related to this fallacy is the Salacious Fallacy, falsely attracting attention to and thus potential agreement with one’s argument by inappropriately sexualizing it, significantly connecting it to some form of sex that is perceived as deviant, perverted or prohibited (E.g., Arguing in opposition to Bill Clinton’s presidential legacy by continuing to wave Monica’s Blue Dress, or in opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency by obsessively highlighting his previous boasting about genital groping). Historically, this harmful fallacy was deeply implicated with the crime of lynching, during which false, racist accusations towards a Black or minority victim have been nearly all the time salacious in nature and the sensation involved was successfully used to whip up public emotion to a murderous pitch. See additionally, Red Herring. The False Analogy: The fallacy of incorrectly comparing one factor to a different so as to attract a false conclusion. E.g., “Identical to an alley cat must prowl, a normal adult can’t be tied down to one single lover.” The alternative of this fallacy is the Sui Generis Fallacy (additionally, Differance), a postmodern stance that rejects the validity of analogy and of inductive reasoning altogether because any given particular person, place, thing or idea underneath consideration is “sui generis” i.e., different and unique, in a class unto itself. Finish the Job: The harmful contemporary fallacy, typically aimed toward a lesser-educated or working class audience, that an action or standpoint (or the continuation of that action or standpoint) might not be questioned or discussed because there’s “a job to be performed” or finished, falsely assuming “jobs” are meaningless however never to be questioned. Sometimes these involved internalize (“purchase into”) the “job” and make the task a part of their very own ethos. (E.g., “Ours is to not cause why / Ours is but to do or die.”) Related to that is the “Only a Job” fallacy. (E.g., “How can torturers stand to look at themselves within the mirror? But I suppose it’s Ok as a result of for them it’s just a job like some other, the job that they receives a commission to do.”) See additionally “Blind Loyalty,” “The Soldiers’ Honor Fallacy” and the “Argument from Inertia.” The Free Speech Fallacy: The infantile fallacy of responding to challenges to at least one’s statements and standpoints by whining, “It is a free nation, is not it? I can say anything I need to!” A contemporary case of this fallacy is the “Safe Space,” or “Safe Place,” the place it isn’t allowed to refute, challenge or even talk about one other’s beliefs as a result of that could be too uncomfortable or “triggery” for emotionally fragile people. E.g., “All I instructed him was, ‘Jesus loves the little youngsters,’ but then he turned round and requested me ‘But what about birth defects?’ That’s imply. I think I will cry!” Prof. Bill Hart Davidson (2017) notes that “Ironically, probably the most strident requires ‘security’ come from those who need us to issue protections for discredited concepts. Things that science would not help AND that have destroyed lives – things just like the inherent superiority of one race over one other. Those ideas wither below demands for proof. They *are* unwelcome. But let’s be clear: they’re unwelcome as a result of they have not survived the challenge of scrutiny.” Ironically, in contemporary America “free speech” has usually change into shorthand for freedom of racist, offensive and even neo-Nazi expression, ideological trends that when in energy usually quash free speech. Additionally, a latest (2017) scientific research has discovered that, in truth, “people assume more durable and produce higher political arguments when their views are challenged” and never artificially protected with out challenge. The elemental Attribution Error (additionally, Self Justification): A corrupt argument from ethos, this fallacy happens on account of observing and comparing conduct. “You assume that the dangerous conduct of others is attributable to character flaws and foul dispositions while your habits is defined by the surroundings. So, for example, I get up in the morning at 10 a.m. I say it’s as a result of my neighbors party till 2 within the morning (scenario) however I say that the reason why you do it is that you’re lazy. Interestingly, it is extra frequent in individualistic societies the place we worth self volition. Collectivist societies are likely to look on the environment extra. (It occurs there, too, nevertheless it is far less widespread.)” [Thanks to scholar Joel Sax for this!] The obverse of this fallacy is Self Deprecation (also Self Debasement), where, out of either a false humility or a real lack of shallowness, one deliberately puts oneself down, most often in hopes of attracting denials, gratifying compliments and reward.
Gaslighting: A not too long ago-outstanding, vicious fallacy of logic, denying or invalidating an individual’s own information and experiences by intentionally twisting or distorting identified information, recollections, scenes, occasions and proof to be able to disorient a susceptible opponent and to make him or her doubt his/her sanity. E.g., “Who’re you going to believe? Me, or your personal eyes?” Or, “You declare you found me in mattress together with her? Think again! You’re crazy! You seriously have to see a shrink.” A quite common, although merciless instance of Gaslighting that seems to have been particularly familiar among mid-20th century generations is the fallacy of Emotional Invalidation, questioning, after the very fact, the truth or “validity” of affective states, both another’s or one’s personal. E.g., “Sure, I made it happen from beginning to finish, but but it wasn’t me doing it, it was simply my silly hormones betraying me.” Or, “You did not really mean it when you mentioned you ‘hate’ Mommy. Now take a time-out and you may feel higher.” Or, “No, you are probably not in love; it’s just infatuation or ‘puppy love.'” The fallacy of “Gaslighting” is named after British playwright Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 stage play “Gas Light,” also called “Angel Street.” See additionally, Blind Loyalty, “The large Brain/Little Brain Fallacy,” The Affective Fallacy, and “Alternative Truth.” Guilt by Association: The fallacy of trying to refute or condemn somebody’s standpoint, arguments or actions by evoking the adverse ethos of those with whom the speaker is recognized or of a group, social gathering, religion or race to which she or he belongs or was as soon as related to. A form of Ad Hominem Argument, e.g., “Don’t listen to her. She’s a Republican so you can’t trust anything she says,” or “Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” An extreme occasion of that is the Machiavellian “For my enemies, nothing” Fallacy, the place actual or perceived “enemies” are by definition always wrong and must be conceded nothing, not even the time of day, e.g., “He’s a Republican, so even if he stated the sky is blue I wouldn’t believe him.” The Half Truth (additionally Card Stacking, Stacking the Deck, Incomplete Information): A corrupt argument from logos, the fallacy of consciously choosing, amassing and sharing only that proof that helps one’s own standpoint, telling the strict truth however deliberately minimizing or omitting essential key details as a way to falsify the larger picture and assist a false conclusion.(E.g. “The fact is that Bangladesh is among the world’s quickest-rising nations and might boast of a younger, bold and arduous-working population, a household-constructive culture, a delightful, warm local weather of tropical beaches and swaying palms the place it by no means snows, low price medical and dental care, a vibrant religion tradition and a large number of places of worship, an exquisite, world-class spicy native curry cuisine and a swinging leisure scene. Taken collectively, all these strong info clearly show that Bangladesh is without doubt one of the world’s most desirable locations for younger families to reside, work and raise a family.”) See additionally, Confirmation Bias. Hero-Busting (additionally, “The perfect is the Enemy of the great”): A postmodern fallacy of ethos underneath which, since nothing and no person on this world is ideal there will not be and have never been any heroes: Washington and Jefferson held slaves, Lincoln was (by our contemporary requirements) a racist, Karl Marx sexually exploited his family’s own young dwell-in home worker and obtained her pregnant, Martin Luther King Jr. had an eye fixed for girls too, Lenin condemned feminism, the Mahatma drank his personal urine (ugh!), Pope Francis is unsuitable on abortion, capitalism, same-intercourse marriage and women’s ordination, Mother Teresa cherished suffering and was mistaken on nearly the whole lot else too, and so forth., and so forth Also applies to the now near-universal political tactic of ransacking all the pieces an opponent has said, written or carried out since infancy so as to find one thing to misinterpret or condemn (and we all have one thing!). An early example of this latter tactic is deftly described in Robert Penn Warren’s basic (1946) novel, All the King’s Men. This is the other of the “Heroes All” fallacy, below. The “Hero Busting” fallacy has also been selectively employed on the service of the Identity Fallacy (see beneath) to falsely “prove” that “you can’t belief anyone” however a member of “our” identification-group since everybody else, even the so-known as “heroes” or “allies” of other teams, are all racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, or hate “us.” E.g., In 1862 Abraham Lincoln mentioned he was prepared to settle the U.S. Civil War either with or without freeing the slaves if it would preserve the Union, thus “conclusively proving” that each one whites are viciously racist at heart and that African Americans must do for self and by no means belief any of “them,” not even those who claim to be allies. Heroes All (additionally, “Everybody’s a Winner”): The contemporary fallacy that everyone seems to be above average or extraordinary. A corrupted argument from pathos (not wanting anybody to lose or to really feel dangerous). Thus, every member of the Armed Services, previous or present, who serves honorably is a nationwide hero, each student who competes in the Science Fair wins a ribbon or trophy, and every racer is awarded a winner’s yellow jersey. This corruption of the argument from pathos, much ridiculed by disgraced American humorist Garrison Keeler, ignores the fact that if all people wins no one wins, and if everybody’s a hero no one’s a hero. The logical results of this fallacy is that, as youngsters’s creator Alice Childress writes (1973), “A hero ain’t nothing however a sandwich.” See also the “Soldiers’ Honor Fallacy.” Hoyle’s Fallacy: A fallacy of logos, falsely assuming that a possible occasion of low (even vanishingly low) probability can never have happened and/or would never occur in actual life. E.g., “The likelihood of something as complex as human DNA emerging by purely random evolution within the time the earth has existed is so negligible that it’s for all practical purposes impossible and should have required divine intervention.” Or, “The possibility of a casual, Saturday-evening poker player being dealt 4 aces off an trustworthy, shuffled deck is so infinitesimal that it would by no means happen even as soon as in a standard lifetime! That proves you cheated!” See also, Argument from Incredulity. An obverse of Hoyle’s Fallacy is “You Can’t Win if You don’t Play,” (additionally, “Someone’s gonna win and it would as nicely be YOU!”) a common and merciless contemporary fallacy used to persuade susceptible audiences, notably the poor, the mathematically illiterate and gambling addicts to throw their cash away on lotteries, horse races, casinos and other lengthy-shot gambling schemes. I Wish I Had a Magic Wand: The fallacy of regretfully (and falsely) proclaiming oneself powerless to vary a nasty or objectionable state of affairs over which one has energy. E.g., “What can we do about gas prices? As Secretary of Energy I want I had a magic wand, however I don’t” [shrug] . Or, “No, you can’t give up piano classes. I wish I had a magic wand and will educate you piano overnight, however I don’t, so like it or not, it’s a must to keep on practicing.” The mother or father, of course, ignores the chance that the child might not need or need to be taught piano. See additionally, TINA. The Identity Fallacy (also Identity Politics; “Die away, ye outdated kinds and logic!”): A corrupt postmodern argument from ethos, a variant on the Argumentum advert Hominem wherein the validity of one’s logic, evidence, expertise or arguments depends not on their own power but quite on whether or not the one arguing is a member of a given social class, era, nationality, religious or ethnic group, shade, gender or sexual orientation, occupation, occupation or subgroup. In this fallacy, valid opposing evidence and arguments are brushed aside or “othered” without remark or consideration, as merely not price arguing about solely due to the lack of correct background or ethos of the person making the argument, or as a result of the one arguing doesn’t self-determine as a member of the “in-group.” E.g., “You’d perceive me right away if you were Burmese but since you’re not there is not any way I can explain it to you,” or “Nobody but one other nurse can know what a nurse has to undergo.” Identity fallacies are reinforced by common ritual, language, and discourse. However, these fallacies are often self-involved, driven by the egotistical ambitions of lecturers, politicians and would-be group leaders anxious to build their own careers by carving out a particular id group constituency to the exclusion of existing broader-primarily based identities and management. An Identity Fallacy might lead to scorn or rejection of probably helpful allies, actual or potential, as a result of they aren’t of 1’s own identity. The Identity Fallacy promotes an exclusivist, sometimes cultish “do for self” philosophy which in as we speak’s world nearly guarantees self-marginalization and ultimate defeat. A recent utility of the Identity Fallacy is the fallacious accusation of “Cultural Appropriation,” through which those that should not of the appropriate Identity are condemned for “appropriating” the delicacies, clothes, language or music of a marginalized group, forgetting the outdated axiom that “Imitation is the sincerest type of flattery.” Accusations of Cultural Appropriation very often stem from competing selfish economic pursuits (E.g., “What right do these p*nche Gringos must arrange a taco place proper right here on Guadalupe Drive to remove enterprise from Doña Teresa’s Taquería? They even dare to play Mexican music of their dining room! That’s cultural appropriation!”). See also, Othering. Infotainment (also Infortainment; Fake News; InfoWars); A very corrupt and harmful modern media-pushed fallacy that intentionally and knowingly stirs in facts, information, falsities and outright lies with leisure, a mixture normally concocted for specific, base ideological and profit-making motives. Origins of this fallacy predate the present era within the form of “Yellow” or “Tabloid” Journalism. This deadly fallacy has prompted limitless social unrest, discontent and even shooting wars (e.g., the Spanish American War) over the course of trendy historical past. Practitioners of this fallacy generally hypocritically justify its use on the idea that their readers/listeners/viewers “know beforehand” (or should know) that the content material supplied shouldn’t be intended as actual news and is obtainable for entertainment functions solely, but in truth this caveat is rarely noticed by uncritical audiences who eagerly swallow what the purveyors put forth. See additionally Dog-Whistle Politics. The Job’s Comforter Fallacy (additionally, “Karma is a bi**h;” “What goes round comes around.”): The fallacy that since there is no such factor as random chance and we (I, my group, or my country) are below special safety of heaven, any misfortune or pure catastrophe that we suffer should be a punishment for our personal or someone else’s secret sin or open wickedness. The other of the Appeal to Heaven, that is the fallacy employed by the Westboro Baptist Church members who protest fallen service members’ funerals all across the United States. See also, Magical Thinking. Just Do it. (additionally, “Discover a way;” “I don’t care how you do it;” “Accomplish the mission;” “By Any Means Necessary.” ): A pure, abusive Argumentum advert Baculum (argument from pressure), by which somebody in energy arbitrarily waves apart or overrules the ethical objections of subordinates or followers and orders them to perform a aim by any means required, fair or foul The clear implication is that unethical or immoral methods should be used. E.g., “You say there is not any method you possibly can finish the dig on schedule because you found an previous pioneer gravesite with a fancy tombstone on the excavation site? Well, discover a way! Make it disappear! Just do it! I don’t want to know how you do it, simply do it! This is a million greenback contract and we’d like it finished by Tuesday.” See also, Plausible Deniability. Just Plain Folks (also, “Values”): This corrupt modern argument from ethos argues to a much less-educated or rural viewers that the one arguing is “simply plain people” who is a “plain talker,” “says what s/he’s considering,” “scorns political correctness,” someone who “you don’t need a dictionary to grasp” and who thinks like the audience and is thus worthy of belief, in contrast to some member of the fancy-talking, latte-sipping Left Coast Political Elite, some “double-domed professor,” “inside-the-beltway Washington bureaucrat,” “tree-hugger” or other despised outsider who “doesn’t think like we do” or “does not share our values.” It is a counterpart to the Ad Hominem Fallacy and most often carries a distinct reek of xenophobia or racism as properly. See additionally the Plain Truth Fallacy and the Simpleton’s Fallacy. The Law of Unintended Consequences (also, “Every Revolution Ends up Eating its own Young:” Grit; Resilience Doctrine): On this very harmful, archly pessimistic postmodern fallacy the bogus “Law of Unintended Consequences,” as soon as a semi-humorous satirical corollary of “Murphy’s Law,” is elevated to to the status of an iron legislation of historical past. This fallacy arbitrarily proclaims a priori that since we are able to never know all the pieces or securely foresee anything, ultimately in in the present day’s “complex world” unforeseeable adverse penalties and unfavourable unintended effects (so-referred to as “unknown unknowns”) will all the time end up blindsiding and overwhelming, defeating and vitiating any and all naive “do-gooder” efforts to improve our world. Instead, one should all the time count on defeat and be ready to roll with the punches by growing “grit” or “resilience” as a major survival ability. This nihilist fallacy is a practical negation of the the possibility of any legitimate argument from logos. See also, TINA. Lying with Statistics: The contemporary fallacy of misusing true figures and numbers to “prove” unrelated claims. (e.g. “In actual terms, attending school has never been cheaper than it is now. When expressed as a percentage of the national debt, the cost of getting a faculty schooling is definitely far much less today than it was again in 1965!”). A corrupted argument from logos, usually preying on the general public’s perceived or actual mathematical ignorance. This consists of the Tiny Percentage Fallacy, that an quantity or motion that is kind of vital in and of itself in some way becomes insignificant just because it’s a tiny proportion of something a lot bigger. E.g., the arbitrary arrest, detention or interception of “solely” just a few hundred legally-boarded worldwide travelers as a tiny share of the tens of hundreds who usually arrive. Under this similar fallacy a client who would choke on spending an extra dollar for two cans of peas will sometimes ignore $50 additional on the price of a car or $a thousand extra on the price of a home simply because these differences are “only” a tiny share of the much bigger quantity being spent. Historically, sales taxes or worth-added taxes (VAT) have efficiently gained public acceptance and stay “beneath the radar” due to this latter fallacy, despite the fact that amounting to lots of or 1000’s of dollars a 12 months in additional tax burden. See also Half-fact, the Snow Job, and the Red Herring. Magical Thinking (additionally, the Sin of Presumption; Expect a Miracle!): An historical but deluded fallacy of logos, arguing that in terms of “crunch time,” supplied one has sufficient faith, prays laborious enough, says the fitting phrases, does the proper rituals, “names it and claims it,” or “claims the Promise,” God will always suspend the legal guidelines of the universe and work a miracle at the request of or for the advantage of the True Believer. In practice this nihilist fallacy denies the existence of a rational or predictable universe and thus the potential of any legitimate argument from logic. See additionally, Positive Thinking, the Appeal to Heaven, and the Job’s Comforter fallacy. Mala Fides (Arguing in Bad Faith; additionally Sophism): Using an argument that the arguer himself or herself is aware of just isn’t valid. E.g., An unbeliever attacking believers by throwing verses from their own Holy Scriptures at them, or a lawyer arguing for the innocence of someone whom s/he knows full nicely to be guilty. This latter is a common practice in American jurisprudence, and is typically portrayed as the worst face of “Sophism.” [Special because of Bradley Steffens for mentioning this fallacy!] Included beneath this fallacy is the fallacy of Motivational Truth (also, Demagogy, or Campaign Promises), intentionally mendacity to “the people” to realize their support or inspire them towards some action the rhetor perceives to be desirable (utilizing evil discursive means towards a “good” materials end). A particularly bizarre and corrupt type of this latter fallacy is Self Deception (additionally, Whistling by the Graveyard). through which one deliberately and knowingly deludes oneself in order to achieve a purpose, or perhaps simply to suppress anxiety and maintain one’s vitality stage, enthusiasm, morale, peace of thoughts or sanity in moments of adversity. Measurability: A corrupt argument from logos and ethos (that of science and arithmetic), the modern Fallacy of Measurability proposes that if something can’t be measured, quantified and replicated it doesn’t exist, or is “nothing but anecdotal, touchy-feely stuff” unworthy of critical consideration, i.e., mere gossip or subjective opinion. Often, achieving “Measurability” necessarily calls for preselecting, “fiddling” or “massaging” the available data merely in order to make it statistically tractable, or with a purpose to assist a desired conclusion. Scholar Thomas Persing thus describes “The modernist fallacy of falsely and inappropriately applying norms, standardizations, and information level requirements to quantify productiveness or success. That is similar to complex query, measurability, and oversimplification fallacies the place the consumer makes an attempt to categorize difficult / numerous matters into phrases that when measured, suit their place. For example, the calculation of inflation within the United States would not embody the changes in the worth to gasoline, as a result of the price of gasoline is too unstable, regardless of the fact gasoline is critical for most people to dwell their lives within the United States.” See additionally, “A Priori Argument,” “Lying with Statistics,” and the “Procrustean Fallacy.” Mind-studying (Also, “The Fallacy of Speculation;” “I can read you want a e-book”): An historical fallacy, a corruption of stasis principle, speculating about someone else’s ideas, emotions, motivations and “body language” after which claiming to know these clearly, sometimes more accurately than the person in query knows themselves. The rhetor deploys this phony “data” as a fallacious warrant for or towards a given standpoint. Scholar Myron Peto gives as an example the baseless declare that “Obama doesn’t a da** [sic] for human rights.” Assertions that “call for hypothesis” are rightly rejected as fallacious in U.S. judicial proceedings but far too usually pass uncontested in public discourse. The alternative of this fallacy is the postmodern fallacy of Mind Blindness (also, the Autist’s Fallacy), a whole denial of any regular human capability for “Theory of Mind,” postulating the utter incommensurability and privateness of minds and thus the impossibility of ever knowing or actually understanding one other’s thoughts, emotions, motivations or intents. This fallacy, a lot promoted by the late postmodernist guru Jacques Derrida, necessarily vitiates any form of Stasis Theory. However, the Fallacy of Mind Blindness has been decisively refuted in several research, including recent (2017) research printed by the Association for Psychological Science, and a (2017) Derxel University study indicating how “our minds align once we talk.” Moral Licensing: The contemporary moral fallacy that one’s persistently ethical life, good behavior or current excessive suffering or sacrifice earns him/her the precise to commit an immoral act with out repercussions, penalties or punishment. E.g., “I have been good all year, so one dangerous won’t matter,” or “After what I have been through, God is aware of I need this.” The fallacy of Moral Licensing can be generally utilized to nations, e.g., “Those that criticize repression and the Gulag in the previous USSR overlook what extraordinary suffering the Russians went by in World War II and the tens of millions upon thousands and thousands who died.” See also Argument from Motives. The alternative of this fallacy is the (excessively rare in our occasions) ethical fallacy of Scruples, during which one obsesses to pathological excess about one’s unintended, forgotten, unconfessed or unforgiven sins and because of them, the seemingly inevitable prospect of eternal damnation. Moral Superiority (also, Self Righteousness; the Moral High Ground): An historic, immoral and intensely dangerous fallacy, enunciated in Thomistic / Scholastic philosophy in the late Middle Ages, arguing that Evil has no rights that the nice and the Righteous are certain to respect. That means lies torture, heretic-burning, and the Spanish Inquisition. Those who observe this vicious fallacy reject any “moral equivalency” (i.e., even-handed treatment) between themselves (the Righteous) and their enemies (the Wicked), against whom something is honest, and to whom nothing have to be conceded, not even the fitting to life. This fallacy is a selected denial of the historical “Golden Rule,” and has been the reason for countless intractable battle, since if one is Righteous no negotiation with Evil and its minions is feasible; The only imaginable road to a “simply” peace is thru total victory, i.e., the absolute defeat and liquidation of one’s Wicked enemies. American folk singer and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan expertly demolishes this fallacy in his 1963 protest song, “With God on Our Side.” See additionally the Appeal to Heaven, and Moving the Goalposts. Mortification (additionally, Live as if You’re Dying; Pleasure-hating; No Pain No Gain): An historical fallacy of logos, trying to “beat the flesh into submission” by extreme exercise or ascetic practices, deliberate starvation or infliction of pain, denying the undeniable incontrovertible fact that discomfort and pain exist for the purpose of warning of lasting harm to the body. Extreme examples of this fallacy are numerous types of self-flagellation reminiscent of practiced by the brand new Mexico “Penitentes” during Holy Week or by Shia devotees during Muharram. More acquainted contemporary manifestations of this fallacy are extreme “insanity” train regimes not meant for regular health, health or aggressive functions but just to “toughen” or “punish” the body. Certain pop-nutritional theories and diets seem primarily based on this fallacy as properly. Some contemporary experts suggest that self-mortification (an English phrase related to the Latinate French root “mort,” or “dying.”) is the truth is “suicide on the installment plan.” Others suggest that it entails a narcotic-like addiction to the body’s pure endorphins. The other of this fallacy is the historical fallacy of Hedonism, in search of and valuing physical pleasure as a good in itself, simply for its own sake. Moving the Goalposts (additionally, Changing the principles; All’s Fair in Love and War; The Nuclear Option; “Winning isn’t all the things, it is the one thing”): A fallacy of logos, demanding sure proof or evidence, a sure diploma of help or a sure number of votes to resolve an issue, after which when this is offered, demanding even more, different or higher support with a view to deny victory to an opponent. For individuals who practice the fallacy of Moral Superiority (above), Moving the Goalposts is usually perceived as completely good and permissible if obligatory to forestall the victory of Wickedness and ensure the triumph of 1’s own aspect, i.e, the Righteous. MYOB (Mind Your individual Business; additionally You’re not the Boss of Me; “None of yer beeswax,” “So What?”, The Appeal to Privacy): The contemporary fallacy of arbitrarily prohibiting or terminating any dialogue of 1’s own standpoints or habits, irrespective of how absurd, harmful, evil or offensive, by drawing a phony curtain of privateness round oneself and one’s actions. A corrupt argument from ethos (one’s own). E.g., “Sure, I was doing eighty and weaving between lanes on Mesa Street–what’s it to you? You’re not a cop, you are not my nanny. It’s my business if I want to hurry, and your online business to get the hell out of my way. Mind your personal rattling business!” Or, “Yeah, I killed my child. So what? Butt out! It wasn’t your brat, so it is none of your rattling business!” Rational discussion is lower off as a result of “it is none of your enterprise!” See also, “Taboo.” The counterpart of that is “Nobody Will Ever Know,” (additionally “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas;” “I think We’re Alone Now,” or the heart of Darkness Syndrome) the fallacy that simply because no person essential is wanting (or because one is on vacation, or away in college, or overseas) one may freely commit immoral, egocentric, unfavorable or evil acts at will without expecting any of the traditional consequences or punishment . Author Joseph Conrad graphically describes this type of moral degradation in the character of Kurtz in his basic novel, Heart of Darkness. Name-Calling: A variety of the “Ad Hominem” argument. The harmful fallacy that, merely due to who one is or is alleged to be, any and all arguments, disagreements or objections towards one’s standpoint or actions are mechanically racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, bigoted, discriminatory or hateful. E.g., “My stand on abortion is the only appropriate one. To disagree with me, argue with me or query my judgment in any means would only show what a pig you really are.” Also applies to refuting an argument by simply calling it a “fallacy,” or declaring it invalid with out proving why it’s invalid, or summarily dismissing arguments or opponents by labeling them “racist,” “communist,” “fascist,” “moron,” any title followed by the suffix “tard” (brief for the extremely offensive “retard”) or some other unfavorable identify with out further clarification. E.g., “He’s an a**hole, finish of story” or “I’m a loser.” A subset of this is the Newspeak fallacy, creating identification with a sure form of audience by inventing or using racist or offensive, typically army-sounding nicknames for opponents or enemies, e.g., “The damned DINO’s are even worse than the Repugs and the Neocons.” Or, “In the big One it took us solely five years to beat each the J*ps and the Jerries, so greater than a decade and a half after niner-eleven why is it so hard for us to beat a raggedy bunch of Hajjis and Towel-heads?” Note that originally the phrase “Nazi” belonged on this class, however this time period has lengthy come into use as a proper English noun. See also, “Reductionism,” “Ad Hominem Argument,” and “Alphabet Soup.” The Narrative Fallacy (additionally, the Fable; the Poster Child) The historical fallacy of persuasion by telling a “heartwarming” or horrifying story or fable, notably to much less-educated or uncritical audiences who’re much less possible to grasp purely logical arguments or general principles. E.g., Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Narratives and fables, significantly those that identify names and personalize arguments, are typically much more persuasive at a popular stage than different forms of argument and are just about irrefutable, even when the story in question is well-known to be entirely fictional. This fallacy is discovered even in the sphere of science, as famous by a recent (2017) scientific examine. The NIMBY Fallacy (Not in My Back Yard; additionally “Build a Wall!”; “Lock’em up and throw away the key;” The Ostrich Strategy; The Gitmo Solution.). The infantile fallacy that an issue, problem or threat that’s not physically nearby or to which I’m circuitously uncovered has for all practical purposes “gone away” and ceased to exist. Thus, a problem will be permanently and definitively solved by “making it go away,” preferably to someplace “out of sight,” a walled-off ghetto or a distant isle where there is no information protection, and the place no person important stays. Lacking that, it may be made to go away by merely eliminating, censoring or ignoring “damaging” media coverage and public discussion of the problem and focusing on “optimistic, encouraging” things as an alternative. No Discussion (also No Negotiation; the Control Voice; Peace by Strength; a Muscular Foreign Policy; Fascism): A pure Argumentum advert Baculum that rejects reasoned dialogue, offering both instant, unconditional compliance/surrender or defeat/loss of life as the one two options for settling even minor differences, e.g., screaming “Get down on the bottom, now!” or declaring “We don’t talk to terrorists.” This deadly fallacy falsely paints real or potential “hostiles” as monsters devoid of all cause, and much too typically incorporates a really robust aspect of “machismo” as effectively. I.e. “A real, muscular leader never resorts to pantywaist pleading, apologies, excuses, fancy discuss or argument. That’s for attorneys, liars and pansies and is nothing but a delaying tactic. A real man stands tall, says what he thinks, attracts fast and shoots to kill.” The late actor John Wayne continuously portrayed this fallacy in his film roles. See also, The Pout. Non-recognition: A deluded fallacy during which one deliberately chooses not to publicly “acknowledge” ground truth, usually on the speculation that this is able to by some means reward evil-doers if we acknowledge their deeds as real or consequential. Often the underlying idea is that the state of affairs is “short-term” and can soon be reversed. E.g., In the a long time from 1949 till Richard Nixon’s presidency the United States formally refused to acknowledge the existence of essentially the most populous nation on earth, the People’s Republic of China, because America supported the U.S.-friendly Republic of China authorities on Taiwan instead and hoped they might someway return to power on the mainland. Perversely, in 2016 the U.S. President-Elect brought about a major worldwide flap by chatting with the President of the federal government on Taiwan, a de facto violation of long-standing American non-recognition of that very same regime. More than half a century after the Korean War the U.S. still refuses to pronounce the title of, or recognize (a lot less conduct regular, peaceful negotiations with) a nuclear-armed DPRK (North Korea). A person who practices this fallacy risks institutionalization (e.g., “I refuse to acknowledge Mom’s murder, ‘cuz that’d give the victory to the assassin! I refuse to observe you bury her! Stop! Stop!”) but tragically, such habits is simply too frequent in international relations. See also the State Actor Fallacy, Political Correctness, and The Pout. The Non Sequitur: The deluded fallacy of providing evidence, reasons or conclusions that have no logical connection to the argument at hand (e.g. “The cause I flunked your course is as a result of the U. S. government is now placing out purple 5-dollar bills! Purple!”). (See also Red Herring.) Nothing New Under the Sun (also, Uniformitarianism, “Seen all of it earlier than;” “Surprise, surprise;” “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”): Fairly uncommon in contemporary discourse, this deeply cynical fallacy, a corruption of the argument from logos, falsely proposes that there is not and will never be any actual novelty in this world. Any argument that there are truly “new” concepts or phenomena is judged a priori to be unworthy of severe discussion and dismissed with a jaded sigh and a wave of the hand as “the same old same old.” E.g., “[Sigh!] Idiots! Don’t you see that the current inflow of refugees from the Mideast is simply the same old Muslim invasion of Christendom that’s been occurring for 1,four hundred years?” Or, “Libertarianism is nothing however re-warmed anarchism, which, in flip, is nothing but the ancient Antinomian Heresy. Like I advised you before, there’s nothing new under the sun!”
Olfactory Rhetoric (additionally, “The Nose Knows”): A vicious, zoological-level fallacy of pathos through which opponents are marginalized, dehumanized or hated primarily based on their supposed odor, lack of personal cleanliness, imagined diseases or filth. E. g., “Those demonstrators are demanding one thing or another however I’ll solely talk to them if first they go dwelling and take a bath!” Or, “I can smell a Jew a block away!” Also applies to demeaning other cultures or nationalities based on their differing cuisines, e.g., “I don’t care what they are saying or do, their breath all the time stinks of garlic. And have you ever ever smelled their kitchens?” Olfactory Rhetoric straddles the borderline between a fallacy and a psychopathology. A 2017 research by Ruhr University Bochum suggests that olfactory rhetoric doesn’t come up from a easy, automated physiological response to an actual odor, however in reality, strongly is determined by one’s predetermined response or prejudices toward one other, and one’s olfactory center “is activated even before we understand an odour.” See additionally, Othering.
Oops! (additionally, “Oh, I forgot…,” “The Judicial Surprise,” “The October Surprise,”): A corrupt argument from logos during which toward the decisive finish of a dialogue, debate, trial, electoral campaign interval, or determination-making course of an opponent immediately, elaborately and often sarcastically shams having simply remembered or uncovered some salient fact, argument or proof. E.g., “Oops, I forgot to ask you: You had been convicted of this similar offense twice before, weren’t you?!” Banned in American judicial argument, this fallacy is just too frequent in public discourse. Also applies to supposedly “discovering” and sensationally reporting some potentially damning information or evidence and then, after the damage has been performed or the decision has been made, quietly declaring, “Oops, I suppose that actually wasn’t that significant in spite of everything. Ignore what I mentioned. Sorry ’bout that!”
Othering (additionally Otherizing, “They are not Like Us,” Stereotyping, Xenophobia, Racism, Prejudice): A badly corrupted, discriminatory argument from ethos the place info, arguments, experiences or objections are arbitrarily disregarded, ignored or put down with out serious consideration because those concerned “aren’t like us,” or “don’t think like us.” E.g., “It’s Ok for Mexicans to earn a buck an hour within the maquiladoras [Mexico-based mostly “Twin Plants” run by American or different international firms]. If it occurred right here I’d name it brutal exploitation and daylight robbery however south of the border, down Mexico means the economy is completely different and they don’t seem to be like us.” Or, “You claim that life must be actually terrible over there for terrorists to ever consider blowing themselves up with suicide vests simply to make a point, however at all times remember that they are different from us. They don’t assume about life and loss of life the same way we do.” A vicious variety of the Ad Hominem Fallacy, most frequently applied to non-white or non-Christian populations. A variation on this fallacy is the “Speakee” Fallacy (“You speakee da English?”; additionally the Shibboleth), in which an opponent’s arguments are mocked, ridiculed and dismissed solely because of the speaker’s alleged or real accent, dialect, or lack of fluency in normal English, e.g., “He instructed me ‘Vee vorkers have to kind a younion!’ however I advised him I’m not a ‘vorker,’ and to return back when he learns to speak proper English.” A very dangerous, extreme instance of Othering is Dehumanization, a fallacy of faulty analogy where opponents are dismissed as mere cockroaches, lice, apes, monkeys, rats, weasels or bloodsucking parasites who have no proper to speak or to stay in any respect, and doubtless ought to be “squashed like bugs.” This fallacy is in the end the “logic” behind ethnic cleansing, genocide and fuel ovens. See additionally the Identity Fallacy, “Name Calling” and “Olfactory Rhetoric.” The opposite of this fallacy is the “Pollyanna Principle” below.
Overexplanation: A fallacy of logos stemming from the real paradox that past a sure level, extra clarification, instructions, information, dialogue, proof or proof inevitably leads to much less, no more, understanding. Contemporary urban mythology holds that this fallacy is typically male (“Mansplaining”), whereas barely half a century ago the prevailing myth was that it was men who were naturally monosyllabic, grunting or non-verbal whereas girls would typically overexplain (e.g., the 1960 hit tune by Joe Jones, “You Talk An excessive amount of”). “Mansplaining” is, according to scholar Danelle Pecht, “the infuriating tendency of many men to always have to be the neatest particular person in the room, regardless of the subject of discussion and the way much they actually know!” See also The Snow Job, and the “Plain Truth” fallacy.
Overgeneralization (also Hasty Generalization; Totus professional Partes Fallacy; the Merological Fallacy): A fallacy of logos where a broad generalization that’s agreed to be true is obtainable as overriding all explicit cases, particularly special cases requiring fast attention. E.g., “Doctor, you say that this time of year a flu vaccination is crucial. however I might counter that every one vaccinations are important” (implying that I’m not going to provide particular consideration to getting the flu shot). Or, trying to refute “Black Lives Matter” by replying, “All Lives Matter,” the latter undeniably true however nonetheless a fallacious overgeneralization in that particular and urgent context. ” Overgeneralization may also mean one sees a single detrimental final result as an eternal pattern of defeat. Overgeneralization can also embrace the the Pars pro Toto Fallacy, the silly however frequent fallacy of incorrectly applying one or two true examples to all instances. E.g., a minority one that commits a particularly horrifying crime, and whose instance is then used to smear the fame of the complete group, or when a government publishes special lists of crimes committed by groups who are purported to be hated, e.g., Jews, or undocumented immigrants. Famously, the case of 1 Willie Horton was efficiently used in this method within the 1988 American presidential election to smear African Americans, Liberals, and by extension, Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. See additionally the fallacy of “Zero Tolerance” under. The Paralysis of Analysis (additionally, Procrastination; the Nirvana Fallacy): A postmodern fallacy that since all data isn’t in, any conclusion is always provisional, no official determination can ever be made and any motion ought to at all times be delayed till forced by circumstances. A corruption of the argument from logos. (See additionally the “Law of Unintended Consequences.”) The Passive Voice Fallacy (additionally, the Bureaucratic Passive): A fallacy from ethos, concealing energetic human agency behind the curtain of the grammatical passive voice, e.g., “It has been decided that you’re to be let go,” arrogating an ethos of cosmic infallibility and inevitability to a really fallible aware choice made by identifiable, fallible and doubtlessly culpable human beings. Scholar Jackson Katz notes (2017): “We talk about what number of women had been raped final 12 months, not about how many men raped girls. We discuss how many ladies in a college district have been harassed final yr, not about what number of boys harassed ladies. We discuss how many teenage ladies within the state of Vermont bought pregnant final year, moderately than what number of males and boys impregnated teenage women. … So you’ll be able to see how the usage of the passive voice has a political effect. [It] shifts the focus off of men and boys and onto girls and ladies. Even the term ‘Violence against women’ is problematic. It’s a passive development; there’s no active agent in the sentence. It’s a bad thing that occurs to women, but when you look at the time period ‘violence against girls’ nobody is doing it to them, it just occurs to them… Men aren’t even part of it.” See also, Political Correctness. An obverse of the Passive Voice Fallacy is the Be-verb Fallacy, a cultish linguistic principle and the bane of many a first-year composition scholar’s life, alleging that an extraordinary degree of “clarity,” “sanity,” or textual “liveliness” can be reached by strictly eliminating all passive verb varieties and all forms of the verb “to be” from English-language writing. This odd but unproven contention, relationship back to Alfred Korzybski’s “General Semantics” self-enchancment movement of the 1920’s and ’30’s by way of S. I. Hayakawa, blithely ignores the truth that though numerous main world languages lack a ubiquitous “be-verb,” e.g., Russian, Hindi and Arabic, audio system of these languages, like English-talking General Semantics devotees themselves, have never been proven to enjoy any explicit cognitive benefit over bizarre on a regular basis users of the passive voice and the verb “to be.” Nor have writers of the curiously stilted English that outcomes from applying this fallacy achieved any particular success in academia, skilled or technical writing, or in the favored domain. Paternalism: A serious fallacy of ethos, arbitrarily tut-tutting, dismissing or ignoring one other’s arguments or issues as “childish” or “immature;” taking a condescending angle of superiority toward opposing standpoints or toward opponents themselves. E.g., “Your argument against the conflict is so infantile. Try approaching the problem like an grownup for a change,” “I do not argue with youngsters,” or “Somebody must be the grownup within the room, and it might as nicely be me. Here’s why you’re unsuitable…” Also refers back to the sexist fallacy of dismissing a woman’s argument as a result of she is a lady, e.g., “Oh, it must be that point of the month, eh?” See also “Ad Hominem Argument” and “Tone Policing.” Personalizaion: A deluded fallacy of ethos, seeing your self or another person as the important trigger of some exterior event for which you or the opposite person had no duty. E.g., “Never fails! It needed to happen! It’s my traditional rotten luck that the largest blizzard of the 12 months needed to happen simply on the day of our winter festival. If it wasn’t for ME being concerned I’m sure the blizzard would not have occurred!” This fallacy will also be taken in a positive sense, e.g. Hitler evidently believed that just because he was Hitler each bullet would miss him and no explosive may touch him. “Personalization” straddles the borderline between a fallacy and a psychopathology. See also, “The Job’s Comforter Fallacy,” and “Magical Thinking.” The Plain Truth Fallacy; (additionally, the simple Truth fallacy, Salience Bias, the KISS Principle [Keep it Short and Simple / Keep it Simple, Stupid], the Monocausal Fallacy; the Executive Summary): A fallacy of logos favoring familiar, singular, summarized or easily comprehensible knowledge, examples, explanations and evidence over these which can be more advanced and unfamiliar but a lot nearer to the truth. E.g., “Ooooh, look in any respect these equations and formulas! Just boil it down to the simple Truth,” or “I don’t want your damned philosophy lesson! Just tell me the Plain Truth about why this is occurring.” A more subtle version of this fallacy arbitrarily proposes, as did 18th century Scottish rhetorician John Campbell, that the reality is always simple by nature and solely malicious enemies of Truth would ever seek to make it difficult. (See also, The Snow Job, and Overexplanation.) The opposite of this is the postmodern fallacy of Ineffability or Complexity (additionally, Truthiness; Post-Truth),, arbitrarily declaring that today’s world is so complicated that there is no reality, or that Truth (capital-T), if indeed such a thing exists, is unknowable except perhaps by God or the Messiah and is thus ceaselessly inaccessible and irrelevant to us mere mortals, making any cogent argument from logos not possible. See also the big Lie, and Paralysis of Analysis. Plausible Deniability: A vicious fallacy of ethos underneath which someone in power forces these under his or her management to do some questionable or evil act and to then falsely assume or conceal accountability for that act in order to protect the ethos of the one in command. E.g., “Arrange a fatal accident however make sure that I know nothing about it!” Playing on Emotion (additionally, the Sob Story; the Pathetic Fallacy; the “Bleeding Heart” fallacy, the Drama Queen / Drama King Fallacy): The traditional fallacy of pure argument from pathos, ignoring details and evoking emotion alone. E.g., “If you don’t agree that witchcraft is a significant downside simply shut up, close your eyes for a second and image in your mind all those poor moms crying bitter tears for his or her innocent tiny children whose cozy little beds and completely happy tricycles lie all chilly and abandoned, just because of those wicked old witches! Let’s string’em all up!” The opposite of this is the Apathetic Fallacy (also, Cynicism; Burnout; Compassion Fatigue), where any and all legitimate arguments from pathos are brushed apart as a result of, as noted country music artist Jo Dee Messina sang (2005), “My give-a-damn’s busted.” Obverse to Playing on Emotion is the ancient fallacy of Refinement (“Real Feelings”), where sure courses of dwelling beings resembling plants and non-domesticated animals, infants, babies and minor youngsters, barbarians, slaves, deep-sea sailors, farmworkers, criminals and convicts, refugees, addicts, terrorists, Catholics, Jews, foreigners, the poor, people of shade, “Hillbillies,” “Hobos,” homeless or undocumented people, or “the decrease courses” on the whole are deemed incapable of experiencing actual pain like we do, or of getting any “real emotions” in any respect, only brutish appetites, vile lusts, evil drives, filthy cravings, biological instincts, psychological reflexes and automatic tropisms. Noted rhetorician Kenneth Burke falls into this last, behaviorist fallacy in his otherwise sensible (1966) Language as Symbolic Action, in his discussion of a hen trapped in a lecture room. See also, Othering.
Political Correctness (“Pc”): A postmodern fallacy, a counterpart of the “Name Calling” fallacy, supposing that the character of a factor or state of affairs could be modified by merely altering its title. E.g., “Today we strike a blow for animal rights and against cruelty to animals by changing the name of ‘pets’ to ‘animal companions.’” Or “Never, ever play the ‘victim’ card, because it is so manipulative and sounds so unfavorable, helpless and despairing. Instead of being ‘victims,’ we’re proud to be ‘survivors.'” (After all, when “victims” disappear then perpetrators conveniently vanish as properly!) See also, The Passive Voice Fallacy, and The Scripted Message. Also applies to other forms of political “Language Control,” e.g., being careful by no means to seek advice from North Korea or ISIS/ISIL by their somewhat pompous correct names (“the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” and “the Islamic State,” respectively) or to the Syrian government as the “Syrian authorities,” (It’s all the time the “Regime” or the “Dictatorship.”). Occasionally the fallacy of “Political Correctness” is falsely confused with easy courtesy, e.g., “I’m sick and tired of the tyranny of Political Correctness, having to look at my phrases on a regular basis–I wish to be free to talk my mind and to call out a N—– or a Queer in public any time I rattling properly really feel like it!” See additionally, Non-recognition. An opposite of this fallacy is the fallacy of Venting, below. The Pollyanna Principle (additionally, “The Projection Bias,” “They’re Just like Us,” “Singing ‘Kumbaya.'”): A conventional, typically tragic fallacy of ethos, that of mechanically (and falsely) assuming that everyone else in any given place, time and circumstance had or has basically the same (optimistic) needs, desires, interests, considerations, ethics and ethical code as “we” do. This fallacy virtually if not theoretically denies both the truth of distinction and the human capability to selected radical evil. E.g., arguing that “The one thing most Nazi Storm Troopers needed was the same factor we do, to stay in peace and prosperity and to have a good household life,” when the fact was radically otherwise. Dr. William Lorimer presents this clarification: “The Projection Bias is the flip aspect of the ‘They don’t seem to be Like Us’ [Othering] fallacy. The Projection bias (fallacy) is ‘They’re just people like me, subsequently they have to be motivated by the identical issues that encourage me.’ For instance: ‘I would never pull a gun and shoot a police officer except I was satisfied he was attempting to homicide me; subsequently, when Joe Smith shot a police officer, he should have been in genuine concern for his life.’ I see the identical fallacy with regard to Israel: ‘The folks of Gaza just wish to be left in peace; therefore, if Israel would simply lift the blockade and permit Hamas to import anything they need, with out restriction, they’d cease firing rockets at Israel.’ Which will or may not be true – I personally don’t consider it – however the argument clearly presumes that the people of Gaza, or not less than their leaders, are motivated by a desire for peaceful co-existence.” The Pollyanna Principle was gently but expertly demolished within the basic twentieth-century American animated cartoon series, “The Flintstones,” wherein the humor lay in the absurdity of picturing “Stone Age” characters having the same concerns, values and lifestyles as mid-twentieth century white working class Americans. This is the opposite of the Othering fallacy. (Note: The Pollyanna Principle fallacy shouldn’t be confused with a psychological principle of the same name which observes that constructive recollections are usually retained extra strongly than unfavourable ones. ) The Positive Thinking Fallacy: An immensely standard but deluded fashionable fallacy of logos, that as a result of we’re “considering positively” that in itself someway biases external, objective actuality in our favor even before we raise a finger to act. See additionally, Magical Thinking. Note that this particular fallacy is often a part of a a lot wider closed-minded, somewhat cultish ideology the place the practitioner is warned towards paying attention to to and even acknowledging the fact of evil, or of “destructive” proof or counter-arguments against his/her standpoints. In the latter case rational discussion, argument or refutation is most frequently futile. See also, Deliberate Ignorance. The Post Hoc Argument: (additionally, “Post Hoc Propter Hoc;” “Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc;” “Too much of a coincidence,” the “Clustering Illusion”): The basic paranoiac fallacy of attributing an imaginary causality to random coincidences, concluding that simply because something occurs near, at the same time as, or simply after one thing else, the first thing is attributable to the second. E.g., “AIDS first emerged as a epidemic back in the exact same period when Disco music was turning into in style–that’s a lot of a coincidence: It proves that Disco brought about AIDS!” Correlation does not equal causation. The Pout (additionally The Silent Treatment; Nonviolent Civil Disobedience; Noncooperation): An usually-infantile Argumentum advert Baculum that arbitrarily rejects or provides up on dialogue before it’s concluded. Essentially the most benign nonviolent form of this fallacy is found in passive-aggressive ways akin to slowdowns, boycotts, lockouts, sitdowns and strikes. Under President Barack Obama the United States lastly ended a half-century long political Pout with Cuba. See additionally “No Discussion” and “Nonrecognition.” The Procrustean Fallacy (also, “Maintaining Standards,” Standardization, Uniformity, Fordism). The modernist fallacy of falsely and inappropriately making use of the norms and requirements of standardized manufacturing. quality control and inflexible scheduling, or of army discipline to inherently numerous free human beings, their lives, training, conduct, clothing and look. This fallacy usually appears to stem from the pathological need of someone in energy to place in “order” their disturbingly free, messy and disordered universe by limiting others’ freedom and insisting on inflexible standardization, alphabetization, discipline, uniformity and “goal” evaluation of everyone beneath their energy. This fallacy partially explains why marching in straight strains, mass calisthenics, goose-stepping, drum-and-bugle or flag corps, standing at consideration, saluting, uniforms, and standardized categorization are so typical of fascism, tyrannical regimes, and of tyrants petty and grand all over the place. Because of writer Eimar O’Duffy for figuring out this fallacy! Prosopology (also, Prosopography, Reciting the Litany; “Tell Me, What Were Their Names?”; Reading the Roll of Martyrs): An historic fallacy of pathos and ethos, publicly reading out loud, singing, or inscribing at size an inventory of names (most or all of which will be unknown to the reader or viewers), typically in a unfavorable sense, to underline the gravity of a previous tragedy or mass-casualty event, generally in a constructive sense, to emphasize the ancient historical continuity of a church, organization or cause. Proper names, especially if they are from the same culture or language group as the viewers, can have near-mystical persuasive energy. In some circumstances, those that use this fallacy in its contemporary type will defend it as an try to “personalize” an otherwise nameless current mass tragedy. This fallacy was just about unknown in secular American affairs earlier than about 100 years in the past, when the customized emerged of listing of the names of native World War I casualties on neighborhood monuments across the nation. That that is indeed a fallacy is obvious by the truth that the names on these century-previous monuments are actually significant solely to genealogists and specialised historians, simply because the names on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington or the names of those that perished on 9/11 will surely be in another a number of generations. The Red Herring (additionally, Distraction): An irrelevant argument, attempting to mislead and distract an viewers by bringing up an unrelated but emotionally loaded subject. E.g., “In regard to my a number of bankruptcies and recent indictment for corruption let’s be straight up about what’s actually important: Terrorism! Just take a look at what occurred final week in [identify the place]. Vote for me and I’ll battle those terrorists anyplace in the world!” Also applies to raising unrelated issues as falsely opposing the difficulty at hand, e.g., “You say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ but I’d moderately say ‘Climate Change Matters!'” when the two contentions are by no means opposed, only competing for attention. See also Availability Bias, and Dog Whistle Politics. Reductio ad Hitlerum (or, advert Hitleram): A highly problematic contemporary historic-revisionist contention that the argument “That’s just what Hitler said (or would have said, or would have accomplished)” is a fallacy, an occasion of the Ad Hominem argument and/or Guilt by Association. Whether the Reductio ad Hitlerum might be thought-about an actual fallacy or not appears to essentially rely upon one’s private view of Hitler and the gravity of his crimes.
Reductionism: (also, Oversimplifying, Sloganeering): The fallacy of deceiving an audience by giving simple solutions or bumper-sticker slogans in response to complicated questions, particularly when appealing to much less educated or unsophisticated audiences. E.g., “If the glove doesn’t match, it’s essential to vote to acquit.” Or, “Vote for Snith. He’ll deliver again jobs!” In science, expertise, engineering and arithmetic (“STEM subjects”) reductionism is intentionally practiced to make intractable issues computable, e.g., the properly-recognized humorous suggestion, “First, let’s assume the cow is a sphere!”. See also, the Plain Truth Fallacy, and Dog-whistle Politics.
Reifying (additionally, Mistaking the Map for the Territory): The historical fallacy of treating imaginary intellectual classes, schemata or names as actual, materials “issues.” (E.g., “The War in opposition to Terror is just one other chapter in the eternal struggle to the dying between Freedom and Absolute Evil!”) Sometimes additionally known as “Essentializing” or “Hypostatization.” The Romantic Rebel (additionally, the Truthdig / Truthout Fallacy; the Brave Heretic; Conspiracy theories; the Iconoclastic Fallacy): The contemporary fallacy of claiming Truth or validity for one’s standpoint solely or primarily because one is supposedly standing up heroically to the dominant “orthodoxy,” the current Standard Model, conventional knowledge or Political Correctness, or no matter often is the Bandwagon of the moment; a corrupt argument from ethos. E.g., “Back in the day the scientific institution thought that the world was flat, that was until Columbus proved them fallacious! Now they need us to believe that atypical water is nothing but H2O. Are you going to imagine them? The federal government is frantically attempting to suppress the reality that our public drinking-water supply really has nitrogen in it and causes congenital vampirism! And what about Area 51? Don’t you care? Or are you just a kiss-up for the corrupt scientific establishment?” The alternative of the Bandwagon fallacy. The “Save the Children” Fallacy (additionally, Humanitarian Crisis): A cruel and cynical contemporary media-pushed fallacy of pathos, an occasion of the fallacious Appeal to Pity, attracting public help for intervention in any individual else’s disaster in a distant country by repeatedly showing in gross detail the extreme (real) suffering of the innocent, defenseless little kids (occasionally extended even to their pets!) on “our” aspect, conveniently ignoring the fact that innocent kids on all sides often endure the most in any battle, conflict, famine or crisis. Recent (2017) examples embrace the so-known as “Rohingya” in Myanmar/Burma (ignoring multiple other ethnicities suffering ongoing hunger and battle in that impoverished country), kids in rebel-held areas of Syria (areas held by our rebels, not by the Syrian government or by Islamic State rebels), and the children of Mediterranean boat-people (mild complected children from the Mideast, Afghanistan and North Africa, however not darker, African-complected children from sub-Saharan international locations, kids who’re evidently deemed by the media to be far much less worthy of pity). Scholar Glen Greenwald factors out that a cynical key part of this tactic is hiding the youngster and grownup victims of 1’s own violence whereas “milking” the tragic, blood-soaked photographs of children killed by the “different side” for every tear they’ll generate as a causus belli [a puffed-up excuse for warfare, battle or American/Western intervention]. Scapegoating (also, Blamecasting): The ancient fallacy that whenever something goes flawed there’s always someone aside from oneself to blame. Although typically this fallacy is a sensible denial of randomness or probability itself, right this moment it is more typically a mere insurance-pushed enterprise resolution (“I don’t care if it was an accident! Somebody with deep pockets is gonna pay for this!”), though typically scapegoating is not more than a cynical ploy to shield those truly responsible from blame. The term “Scapegoating” can be used to consult with the tactic of casting collective blame on marginalized or scorned “Others,” e.g., “The Jews are to blame!” A particularly corrupt and cynical instance of scapegoating is the fallacy of Blaming the Victim, wherein one falsely casts the blame for one’s personal evil or questionable actions on these affected, e.g., “If you progress an eyelash I’ll have to kill you and you’ll be to blame!” “If you do not bow to our calls for we’ll shut down the government and it’ll be totally YOUR fault!” or “You bi**h, you acted flirty and made me rape you! Then you definitely snitched on me to the cops and allow them to acquire a rape kit on you, and now I’m going to prison and every bit of it is your fault!” See also, the Affective Fallacy. Scare Tactics (also Appeal to Fear; Paranoia; the Bogeyman Fallacy; Shock Doctrine [ShockDoc]; Rally ‘Round the Flag; Rally ‘Round the President): Quite a lot of Playing on Emotions, a corrupted argument from pathos, making the most of a emergent or deliberately-created crisis and its associated public shock, panic and chaos to be able to impose an argument, action or resolution that would be clearly unacceptable if fastidiously thought of. E.g., “If you do not shut up and do what I say we’re all gonna die! On this moment of disaster we won’t afford the luxurious of criticizing or trying to second-guess my selections when our very lives and freedom are in peril! Instead, we need to be united as one!” Or, within the (2017) words of former White House Spokesperson Sean Spicer, “That is about the security of America!” This fallacy is discussed at size in Naomi Klein’s (2010) The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and her (2017) No is just not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We’d like. See additionally, The Shopping Hungry Fallacy, Dog-Whistle Politics, “We Must do Something!”, and The Worst Case Fallacy. “Scoring” (also, Moving the Ball Down the sphere, the Sports World Fallacy; “Hey, Sports Fans!”): An instance of defective analogy, the widespread contemporary fallacy of inappropriately and most frequently offensively making use of sports, gaming, searching or different recreational imagery to unrelated areas of life, resembling struggle or intimacy. E.g., “Nope, I have never scored with Francis but, however last night I managed to get to third base!” or “We really have to take our floor recreation into Kim’s half of the sphere if we ever count on to attain in opposition to North Korea.” This fallacy is sort of all the time soaked in testosterone and machismo. An associated fallacy is that of Evening up the Score (also, Getting Even), exacting tit-for-tat vengeance as though life have been some kind of “point-rating” sports contest. Counter-arguments to the “Scoring” fallacy normally fall on deaf ears, for the reason that one and solely function for playing a game is to “rating,” isn’t it? The Scripted Message (additionally, Talking Points): A contemporary fallacy associated to Big Lie Technique, the place a politician or public figure strictly limits her/his statements on a given situation to repeating fastidiously scripted, usually exaggerated or empty phrases developed to attain maximum acceptance or maximum desired reaction from a target market. See also, Dog Whistle Politics, and Political Correctness, above. The alternative of this fallacy is that of “Venting.” Sending the Wrong Message: A harmful fallacy of logos that attacks a given assertion, argument or action, regardless of how good, true or crucial, because it should “send the wrong message.” In effect, those that use this fallacy are overtly confessing to fraud and admitting that the truth will destroy the fragile web of illusion they have deliberately created by their lies. E.g., “Actually, we have not a clue about the way to deal with this disaster, but when we publicly admit it we’ll be sending the wrong message.” See additionally, “Mala Fides.”
Shifting the Burden of Proof: A classic fallacy of logos that challenges an opponent to disprove a claim moderately than asking the person making the declare to defend his/her own argument. E.g., “Nowadays area-aliens are everywhere among us, masquerading as true humans, even right here on campus! I dare you to show it isn’t so! See? You can’t! You admit it! Which means what I say must be true. Most likely, you are one in all them, since you seem to be so mushy on area-aliens!” A typical tactic in using this fallacy is first to get an opponent to admit that a far-fetched declare, or some reality associated to it, is certainly at least theoretically “possible,” after which declare the declare “confirmed” absent evidence to the opposite. E.g., “So that you admit that massive undetected voter fraud is indeed possible below our present system, and will have occurred in this country at the very least in idea, and also you can’t produce even the tiniest scintilla of evidence that it did not really happen! Ha-ha! I rest my case.” See additionally, Argument from Ignorance. The Shopping Hungry Fallacy: A fallacy of pathos, a wide range of Playing on Emotions and typically Scare Tactics, making silly but vital choices (or being prompted, manipulated or pressured to “freely” take public or non-public decisions that could be later regretted however are difficult to reverse) “within the heat of the moment” when beneath the affect of strong emotion (starvation, worry, lust, anger, sadness, regret, fatigue, even joy, love or happiness). E.g., Trevor Noah, (2016) host of the Daily Show on American tv attributes public approval of draconian measures within the Patriot Act and the creation of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security to America’s “purchasing hungry” immediately after 9/11. See also, Scare Tactics; “We Need to Do Something;” and The large “But” Fallacy. The Silent Majority Fallacy: Quite a lot of the argument from ignorance, this fallacy, famously enunciated by disgraced American President Richard Nixon, alleges particular information of a hidden “silent majority” of voters (or of the inhabitants normally) that stands in support of an in any other case unpopular leader and his/her insurance policies, contrary to the repeated findings of polls, surveys and popular vote totals. In an extreme case the leader arrogates to him/herself the title of the “Voice of the Voiceless.” The Simpleton’s Fallacy: (Or, The “Good Simpleton” Fallacy): A corrupt fallacy of logos, described in an undated quote from science writer Isaac Asimov as “The false notion that democracy signifies that ‘my ignorance is simply pretty much as good as your knowledge.'” The title of this fallacy is borrowed from Walter M. Miller Jr.’s basic (1960) submit-apocalyptic novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz, in which within the centuries after a nuclear holocaust knowledge and learning develop into so despised that “Good Simpleton” becomes the usual form of interpersonal salutation. This fallacy is masterfully portrayed in the particular person of the title character within the 1994 Hollywood film, “Forrest Gump.” The fallacy is extensively alleged to have had an excellent deal to do with the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election, See also “Just Plain Folks,” and the “Plain Truth Fallacy.” U.S. President Barrack Obama famous to the contrary (2016), “In politics and in life, ignorance will not be a virtue. It isn’t cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not actual or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you are speaking about.” The time period “Simpleton’s Fallacy” has also been used to seek advice from a misleading technique of argumentation, feigning ignorance in an effort to get one’s opponent to admit to, clarify or overexplain one thing s/he would relatively not discuss. E.g., “I see here that you have a related prior conviction for one thing referred to as ‘Criminal Sodomy.’ I could also be a poor, naive simpleton however I’m not quite positive what that high-quality and fancy lawyer-talk means in plain English. Please clarify to the jury in simple phrases what precisely you did to get convicted of that crime.” See also, Argument from Ignorance, and The Third Person Effect. The Slippery Slope (additionally, the Domino Theory): The frequent fallacy that “one factor inevitably leads to a different.” E.g., “If you happen to two go and drink coffee collectively one factor will lead to a different and next factor you understand you’ll be pregnant and end up spending your life on welfare living within the Projects,” or “If we shut Gitmo one thing will lead to a different and earlier than you understand it armed terrorists will probably be strolling through our church doors with suicide belts, proud as you please, smack in the course of the 10:30 a.m. Sunday worship service right right here in Garfield, Kansas!”
The Snow Job (additionally Falacia ad Verbosium; Information Bias): A fallacy of logos, “proving” a declare by overwhelming an audience (“snowing them underneath”) with mountains of true however marginally-relevant documents, graphs, words, info, numbers, data and statistics that look extraordinarily impressive but which the meant viewers can’t be anticipated to understand or properly evaluate. This can be a corrupted argument from logos. See also, “Lying with Statistics.” The alternative of this fallacy is the Plain Truth Fallacy. The Soldiers’ Honor Fallacy: The historical fallacy that each one who wore a uniform, fought onerous and followed orders are worthy of some particular honor or glory or are even “heroes,” whether or not they fought for freedom or fought to defend slavery, marched below Grant or Lee, Hitler, Stalin, Eisenhower or McArthur, fought to defend their houses, fought for oil or to unfold empire, and even fought towards and killed U.S. troopers! A corrupt argument from ethos (that of a soldier), closely associated to the “Finish the Job” fallacy (“Sure, he died for a lie, but he deserves honor as a result of he followed orders and did his job faithfully to the top!”). See additionally “Heroes All.” This fallacy was recognized and decisively refuted on the Nuremburg Trials after World War II but remains highly effective to this present day nonetheless. See additionally “Blind Loyalty.” Related is the State Actor Fallacy, that those who fight and die for his or her nation (America, Russia, Iran, the Third Reich, and many others.) are worthy of honor or no less than pardonable whereas those who battle for a non-state actor (armed abolitionists, guerrillas, freedom-fighters, jihadis, mujahideen) should not and remain “terrorists” no matter how noble or vile their trigger, until or except they win and develop into the acknowledged state, or are adopted by a state after the fact. The usual Version Fallacy: The historical fallacy, a discursive Argumentum advert Baculum, of selecting a “Standard Translation” or “Authorized Version” of an historical or sacred textual content and arbitrarily declaring it “correct” and “authoritative,” necessarily eliminating much of the poetry and underlying that means of the unique but conveniently quashing any additional discussion in regards to the which means of the unique textual content, e.g., the Vulgate or The King James Version. The easily demonstrable fact that translation (past three or four phrases) is neither uniform nor reversible (i.e., never comes back exactly the same when retranslated from another language) gives the lie to any efforts to make translation of human languages into an exact science. Islam clearly recognizes this fallacy when characterizing any try and translate the sacred text of the Holy Qur’an out of the original Arabic as a “paraphrase” at easiest. An obverse of this fallacy is the Argumentum ad Mysteriam, above. An extension of the usual Version Fallacy is the Monolingual Fallacy, at an academic degree the fallacy of ignorantly assuming (as a monolingual particular person) that clear, in-depth translation between languages is the norm, or even attainable at all, permitting one to conveniently and falsely ignore on a regular basis problems with translation when close-reading translated literature or tutorial textual content and principle. At the popular stage the Monolingual Fallacy permits monolinguals to blithely demand that visitors, migrants, refugees and newcomers learn English, either earlier than arriving or else overnight after arrival in the United States, while making use of no such demand to themselves after they go to Asia, Europe, Latin America, and even French-talking areas of Canada. Not hardly ever, this fallacy descends into gross racism or ethnic discrimination, e.g., the demagogy of warning of “Spanish being spoken proper right here on Main Street and taco trucks on each corner!” See additionally, Othering, and Dog-Whistle Politics. Star Power (additionally Testimonial, Questionable Authority, Faulty Use of Authority, Falacia advert Vericundiam; Eminence-primarily based Practice): In academia and medicine, a corrupt argument from ethos in which arguments, standpoints and themes of professional discourse are granted fame and validity or condemned to obscurity solely by whoever may be the reigning “stars” or “premier journals” of the profession or self-discipline for the time being. E.g., “Foster’s take on Network Theory has been completely criticized and is so final-week!.This week everyone’s into Safe Spaces and Pierce’s Theory of Microaggressions. Get with the program.” (See additionally, the Bandwagon.) Also applies to an obsession with journal Impact Factors. At the popular stage this fallacy additionally refers to a corrupt argument from ethos wherein public support for a standpoint or product is established by a widely known or revered determine (i.e.,. a star athlete or entertainer) who just isn’t an expert and who may have been effectively paid to make the endorsement (e.g., “Olympic gold-medal pole-vaulter Fulano de Tal uses Quick Flush Internet–Shouldn’t you?” Or, “My favorite rock star warns that vaccinations spread cooties, so I’m not vaccinating my youngsters!” ). Includes different false, meaningless or paid means of associating oneself or one’s product or standpoint with the ethos of a well-known particular person or event (e.g., “Try Salsa Cabria, the official taco sauce of the Winter Olympics!”). This fallacy also covers Faulty use of Quotes (also, The Devil Quotes Scripture), including quoting out of context or against the clear intent of the unique speaker or creator. E.g., racists quoting and twisting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s statements in favor of racial equality against contemporary activists and movements for racial equality. The Straw Man (also “The Straw Person” “”The Straw Figure”): The fallacy of establishing a phony, weak, excessive or ridiculous parody of an opponent’s argument after which proceeding to knock it down or reduce it to absurdity with a rhetorical wave of the hand. E.g., “Vegetarians say animals have feelings like you and me. Ever seen a cow snigger at a Shakespeare comedy? Vegetarianism is nonsense!” Or, “Pro-choicers hate infants and wish to kill them!” Or, “Pro-lifers hate women and wish them to spend their lives barefoot, pregnant and chained to the kitchen stove!” A too-widespread instance of this fallacy is that of highlighting the most absurd, offensive, silly or violent examples in a mass movement or demonstration, e.g. “Tree huggers” for environmentalists, “bra burners” for feminists, or “rioters” when there are a dozen violent crazies in a peaceful, disciplined demonstration of thousands or tens of hundreds, and then falsely portraying these extreme examples as typical of all the movement to be able to condemn it with a wave of the hand. See additionally Olfactory Rhetoric. The Taboo (additionally, Dogmatism):: The historic fallacy of unilaterally declaring certain “bedrock” arguments, assumptions, dogmas, standpoints or actions “sacrosanct” and not open to discussion, or arbitrarily taking some emotional tones, logical standpoints, doctrines or choices “off the table” beforehand. (E.g., ” “No, let’s not discuss my sexuality,” “Don’t deliver my drinking into this,” or “Before we begin, you’ll want to know I will not mean you can play the race card or permit you to assault my arguments by claiming ‘That’s simply what Hitler would say!'”) Also applies to discounting or rejecting sure arguments, information and proof (and even experiences!) out of hand as a result of they’re supposedly “against the Bible” or other sacred dogma (See additionally the A Priori Argument). This fallacy often degenerates into a separate, distracting argument over who will get to outline the parameters, tones, dogmas and taboos of the principle argument, although at this point reasoned discourse most often breaks down and the whole affair becomes a bare Argumentum advert Baculum. See additionally, MYOB, Tone Policing, and Calling “Cards.” They’re All Crooks: The widespread contemporary fallacy of refusing to become involved in public politics because “all” politicians and politics are allegedly corrupt, ignoring the truth that if that is so in a democratic nation it is exactly as a result of first rate individuals like you and i refuse to get entangled, leaving the sphere open to the “crooks” by default. An example of Circular Reasoning. Related to this fallacy is “They’re All Biased,” the extraordinarily frequent contemporary cynical fallacy of ignoring information and information media as a result of none tells the “objective truth” and all push some “agenda.” This basically true observation logically requiring audiences to recurrently view or learn a wide range of media sources in order to get any approximation of actuality, however for many youthful folks right this moment (2017) it means in practice, “Ignore news, news media and public affairs altogether and as a substitute listen to something that is fun, exciting or personally interesting to you.” The sinister implication for democracy is, “Mind your individual business and leave all of the ‘huge’ inquiries to your betters, these whose job is to deal with these questions and who are nicely paid to take action.” See additionally the Third Person Effect, and Deliberate Ignorance. The “Third Person Effect” (also, “Wise up!” and “They’re All Liars”): An instance of the fallacy of Deliberate Ignorance, the arch-cynical postmodern fallacy of deliberately discounting or ignoring media information a priori, opting to remain in ignorance moderately than “listening to the lies” of the mainstream media, the President, the “medical institution,” professionals, professors, doctors and the “academic elite” or other authorities or data sources, even about urgent topics (e.g., the necessity for vaccinations) on which these sources are otherwise publicly considered to be generally reliable or relatively trustworthy. According to Drexel University researchers (2017), the “Third Person Effect … means that people will perceive a mass media message to have extra affect on others, than themselves. This perception tends to counteract the message’s supposed ‘name-to-action.’ Basically, this means that over time individuals wised as much as the truth that some mass media messages were meant to manipulate them — so the messages became less and fewer effective.” This fallacy seems to be opposite to and an overreaction to the massive Lie Technique. See also, Deliberate Ignorance, the Simpleton’s Fallacy, and Trust your Gut.
The “Thousand Flowers” Fallacy (also, “Take names and kick butt.”): A complicated, modern “Argumentum advert Baculum” by which free and open discussion and “brainstorming” are briefly allowed and inspired (even demanded) inside an organization or nation not primarily so as to hear and consider opposing views, however moderately to “smoke out,” establish and later punish, fire or liquidate dissenters or those not following the Party Line. The identify comes from the Thousand Flowers Period in Chinese historical past when Communist chief Chairman Mao Tse Tung utilized this coverage with deadly effect. Throwing Good Money After Bad (additionally, “Sunk Cost Fallacy”): In his glorious guide, Logically Fallacious (2015), Author Bo Bennett describes this fallacy as follows: “Reasoning that additional investment is warranted on the truth that the sources already invested will be misplaced otherwise, not taking into account the overall losses involved in the additional investment.” In different words, risking further cash to “save” an earlier, shedding funding, ignoring the previous axiom that “Doing the identical thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.” E.g., “I can not stop betting now, as a result of I already bet the rent and lost, and i have to win it again or my wife will kill me after i get home!” See also Argument from Inertia.
TINA (There isn’t a Alternative. Also the “Love it or Leave It” Fallacy; “Get over it,” “Suck it up,” “It is what it is,” “Actions/Elections have consequences,” or the “Fait Accompli”): A quite common contemporary extension of the both/or fallacy in which somebody in power quashes vital thought by saying that there is no such thing as a lifelike various to a given standpoint, standing or action, arbitrarily ruling any and all different options out of bounds, or announcing that a decision has been made and any additional discussion is insubordination, disloyalty, treason, disobedience or just a waste of treasured time when there’s a job to be completed. (See also, “Taboo;” “Finish the Job.”) TINA is most often a naked power-play, a slightly more refined number of the Argumentum ad Baculum. See also Appeal to Closure. Tone Policing. A corrupt argument from pathos and delivery, the fallacy of judging the validity of an argument primarily by its emotional tone of supply, ignoring the reality that a valid reality or argument stays valid whether or not it is offered calmly and deliberatively or is shouted in a “shrill” and even “hysterical” tone, whether or not fastidiously written and revealed in skilled, academic language in a revered, peer-reviewed journal or screamed via a bull-horn and peppered with vulgarity. Conversely, a extremely urgent emotional matter is still pressing even when argued coldly and rationally. This fallacy creates a false dichotomy between motive and emotion and thus implicitly favors those who are not personally involved or emotionally invested in an argument, e.g., “I know you are upset, but I will not talk about it with you until you calm down,” or “I’d believe what you wrote have been it not for your adolescent overuse of exclamation factors throughout the text.” Or alternately, “You seem to be taking the loss of life of your partner manner too calmly. You’re beneath arrest for homicide. You’ve got the right to stay silent…” Tone Policing is frequent in contemporary discourse of energy, notably in response to discourse of protest, and is sometimes used in sexist methods, e.g. the accusation of being “shrill” is nearly all the time used against girls, never in opposition to men. See also, The F-Bomb.
Transfer: (additionally, Name Dropping) A corrupt argument from ethos, falsely associating a well-known or respected particular person, place or factor with an unrelated thesis or standpoint (e.g. placing a picture of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on an commercial for mattresses, using Genghis Khan, a Mongol who hated Chinese, as the identify of a Chinese restaurant, or using the Texas flag to sell extra cars or pickups in Texas that had been made in Detroit, Kansas City or Korea). This fallacy is frequent in contemporary academia in the form of utilizing a profusion of scholarly-trying citations from respected authorities to lend a false gravitas to otherwise specious ideas or textual content. See additionally “Star Power.” Trust your Gut (additionally, Trust your Heart; Trust Your Feelings; Trust your Intuition; Trust your Instincts; Emotional Reasoning): A corrupt argument from pathos, the historic fallacy of relying primarily on “intestine feelings” slightly than motive or proof to make choices. A recent (2017) Ohio State University study finds, unsurprisingly, that people who “trust their gut” are significantly more prone to falling for “pretend news,” phony conspiracy theories, frauds and scams than those who insist on arduous evidence or logic. See additionally Deliberate Ignorance, the Affective Fallacy, and The “Third Person Effect.”
Tu Quoque (“You Do it Too!”; also, Two Wrongs Make a Right): A corrupt argument from ethos, the fallacy of defending a shaky or false standpoint or excusing one’s own dangerous action by stating that one’s opponent’s acts, ideology or private character are additionally open to query, or are even perhaps worse than one’s personal. E.g., “Sure, we could have tortured prisoners and killed children with drones, however we don’t reduce off heads like they do!” Or, “You cannot stand there and accuse me of corruption! You guys are all into politics and you already know what we have to do to get reelected!” Unusual, self-deprecating variants on this fallacy are the Ego / Nos Quoque Fallacies (“I / we do it too!”), minimizing or defending one other’s evil actions because I’m / we’re responsible of the identical factor or of even worse. E.g., In response to allegations that Russian Premier Vladimir Putin is a “killer,” American President Donald Trump (2/2017) advised an interviewer, “There are a number of killers. We’ve got a number of killers. What, do you assume our country’s so innocent?” This fallacy is expounded to the Red Herring and to the Ad Hominem Argument.
Two-sides Fallacy (additionally, Teach the Controversy): The presentation of a problem that makes it appear to have two sides of equal weight or significance, when actually a consensus or much stronger argument supports only one facet. Also referred to as “false balance” or “false equivalence.” (Due to Teaching Tolerance for this definition!) E.g,. “Scientists theorize that the Earth is a sphere, however there are at all times two sides to any argument: Others imagine that the Earth is flat and is perched on the again of an enormous turtle, and a actually balanced presentation of the difficulty requires instructing each explanations with out bias or unduly favoring either aspect over the opposite.” Two Truths (additionally, Compartmentalization; Epistemically Closed Systems; Alternative Truth): A very corrupt and harmful fallacy of logos and ethos, first formally described in medieval occasions but nonetheless common at the moment, holding that there exists one “fact” in one given environment (e.g., in science, work or school) and simultaneously a special, formally contradictory but equally true “reality” in a special epistemic system, context, environment, intended audience or discourse neighborhood (e.g., in one’s religion or at dwelling). This could lead to a state of affairs of stable cognitive dissonance where, as UC Irvine scholar Dr. Carter T. Butts describes it (2016), “I do know however do not consider,” making rational discussion difficult, painful or inconceivable. This fallacy additionally describes the discourse of politicians who cynically proclaim one “fact” as mere “campaign rhetoric” used “to mobilize the base,” or “for domestic consumption only,” and a quite totally different and contradictory “truth” for more general or sensible functions once in workplace. See also Disciplinary Blinders; Alternative Truth. Venting (also, Letting off Steam; Loose Lips): In the Venting fallacy an individual argues that her/his words are or should be exempt from criticism or consequence as a result of s/he was “solely venting,” though this very admission implies that the one “venting” was, at long last, freely expressing his/her true, heartfelt and uncensored opinion concerning the matter in question. This same fallacy applies to minimizing, denying the importance of or excusing other types of frank, unguarded or uninhibited offensive expression as mere “Locker-room Talk,” “Alpha-male Speech” or nothing however cute, adorable, even perhaps sexy “Bad-boy Talk.” See additionally, the Affective Fallacy. Opposite to this fallacy are the fallacies of Political Correctness and the Scripted Message, above.
Venue: The historic fallacy of Venue, a corrupt argument from kairos, falsely and arbitrarily invalidates an in any other case-valid argument or piece of evidence because it is supposedly provided within the incorrect place, on the improper second or in an inappropriate courtroom, medium or forum. In response to PhD scholar Amanda Thran, “Very often, folks will say to me in individual that Facebook, Twitter, and many others. are ‘not the precise boards’ for discussing politically and socially delicate issues. … On this identical vein, I’ve also encountered the following argument: ‘Facebook, which is used for sharing marriage ceremony, baby, and pet images, is an inappropriate place for political discourse; folks don’t wished to be burdened with that once they log in.’ In my experience, this line of reasoning is most frequently employed (and abused) to shut down a dialog when one feels they are shedding it. Ironically, I have seen it used when the argument has already been transpiring on the platform [in] an already prolonged dialogue.” See also Disciplinary Blinders. We Must Do Something: (additionally, the Placebo Effect; Political Theater; Security Theater; We should send a message): The harmful contemporary fallacy that when “People are scared / People are offended / Individuals are fed up / People are hurting / People want change” it turns into essential to do something, something, directly without stopping to ask “What?” or “Why?”, even if what is completed is an overreaction, is a totally ineffective sham, an inert placebo, or actually makes the scenario worse, quite than “simply sitting there doing nothing.” (E.g., “Banning air passengers from carrying ham sandwiches onto the plane and making parents take off their newborn infants’ tiny pink baby-footwear in all probability does nothing to deter potential terrorists, however people are scared and we need to do something to reply to this crisis!”) This can be a badly corrupted argument from pathos. (See also “Scare Tactic” and “The big ‘But’ Fallacy.”)
Where there’s Smoke, there’s Fire (also Hasty Conclusion; Jumping to a Conclusion): The harmful fallacy of ignorantly drawing a snap conclusion and/or taking action with out enough evidence. E.g., “Captain! The guy sitting subsequent to me in coach has dark skin and is studying a ebook in some sort of funny language all full of accent marks, weird squiggles above the “N’s” and upside-down query marks. It must be Arabic! Get him off the aircraft before he blows us all to kingdom come!” Quite a lot of the “Just in Case” fallacy. The opposite of this fallacy is the “Paralysis of Analysis.”
The Wisdom of the group (additionally, The Magic of the Market; the Wikipedia Fallacy; Crowdsourcing): A quite common contemporary fallacy that people could also be improper but “the gang” or “the market” is infallible, ignoring historic examples like witch-burning, lynching, and the market crash of 2008. This fallacy is why most American schools and universities currently (2017) ban college students from using Wikipedia as a severe reference supply.
The Worst-Case Fallacy (additionally, “Just in case;” “We will not afford to take possibilities;” “An abundance of caution;” “Better Safe than Sorry;” “Better to forestall than to lament.”): A pessimistic fallacy by which one’s reasoning is based on an improbable, far-fetched and even completely imaginary worst-case situation somewhat than on reality. This plays on pathos (concern) relatively than purpose, and is commonly politically motivated. E.g., “What if armed terrorists were to assault your county grain elevator tomorrow morning at daybreak? Are you able to fight again? Better inventory up on assault rifles and ammunition in the present day, just in case!” See also Scare Tactics. The other of this is the Positive Thinking Fallacy. The Worst Negates the Bad (also, Be Grateful for What You’ve Got): The extraordinarily common trendy logical fallacy that an objectively unhealthy state of affairs one way or the other is not so unhealthy just because it could have been far worse, or as a result of someone, somewhere has it even worse. E.g., “I cried as a result of I had no footwear, until I saw someone who had no toes.” Or, “You’re protesting because you earn solely $7.25 an hour? You would just as easily be out on the road! I happen to know there are people in Uttar Pradesh who are doing the very same work you’re doing for one tenth of what you are making, and so they’re pathetically glad simply to have work at all. It’s worthwhile to shut up, put down that picket sign, get back to work for what I care to pay you, and thank me every and day by day for supplying you with a job!” Zero Tolerance (also, Zero Risk Bias, Broken Windows Policing, Disproportionate Response; Even One is too Many; Exemplary Punishment; Judenrein): The contemporary fallacy of declaring an “emergency” and promising to disregard justice and due process and devote limitless resources (and sometimes, limitless cruelty) to stamp out a limited, insignificant or even nonexistent drawback. E.g., “I just read about an precise case of cannibalism someplace on this nation. That’s disgusting, and even one case is means, method too many! We need a Federal Taskforce in opposition to Cannibalism with a million-dollar finances and places of work in every state, a national SCAN program in all the grade schools (Stop Cannibalism in America Now!), and an automated double death penalty for cannibals; in different words, zero tolerance for cannibalism on this country!” This can be a corrupt and cynical argument from pathos, almost always politically driven, a very sinister number of Dog Whistle Politics and the “We Have to do Something” fallacy. See also, “Playing on Emotions,” “Red Herring,” and in addition the “Big Lie Technique.” OW 7/06 with thanks to the late Susan Spence. Final revision 1/18, with special due to Business Insider, Teaching Tolerance, and Vox.com, to Bradley Steffens, to Jackson Katz, Brian Resnick, Glen Greenwald, Lara Bhasin, Danelle M. Pecht, Marc Lawson, Eimar O’Duffy, and Mike Caetano, to Dr. William Lorimer, Dr. Carter T. Butts, Dr. Bo Bennett, Myron Peto, Joel Sax, Thomas Persing, Amanda Thran, and to all of the others who recommended corrections, additions and clarifications. Links to Amazon.com on this page are for reader comfort solely, and no endorsement is offered or implied. This list is no longer being maintained, but please continue to copy, mirror, replace and share it freely.
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