, a fallacy is incorrect reasoning in argument ation resulting in a misconception. By accident ..., making fallacies more difficult to diagnose. Also, the components of the fallacy may be spread ... s Organon Sophistical Refutations Sophistici elenchi . This taxonomy is as follows Accident fallacyFallacy of Accident or Sweeping Generalization Accident fallacyFallacy of Accident or Sweeping ... is ignored . Converse accident Converse Fallacy of Accident or Hasty Generalization Converse accident Converse Fallacy of Accident or Hasty Generalization argues from a special case to a general ... fallacy Also called Ignoratio Elenchi , a Ignoratio elenchi red herring Affirming the consequent ... is correct, but is insufficient proof in and of itself. Non sequitur logic Fallacy of False Cause Non sequitur logic Fallacy of False Cause or Non sequitur logic Non Sequitur incorrectly assumes .... Fallacy of many questions Fallacy of many questions or loaded question groups more than one question ... Straw man A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent s position ... s actual quote and used to discredit the argument. It is a form of False attribution attribution fallacy ... Reasoning A Practical Guide to Fallacy free Arguments publisher Cengage Learning year 2008 edition ... to modify with the adverb. Fallacy of composition Fallacy of Composition Fallacy of composition Fallacy ... that the composite item has that property. This can be acceptable i.e., not a fallacy with certain ... but lack the ability to function properly as a group. Fallacy of division Division Fallacy of division ... does not literally mean that one s domicile is in that location. Reification fallacyFallacy of misplaced concreteness Fallacy of Misplaced Concretion Reification fallacyFallacy of misplaced concreteness Fallacy of Misplaced Concretion , identified by Whitehead in his discussion of metaphysics, this refers to the reification fallacy reification of concepts which exist only in discussion ... more details
Syllogistic fallacies are logical fallacy logical fallacies that occur in syllogism s. They include Any syllogism type other than polysyllogism and disjunctive fallacy of four terms Occurring in categorical syllogism s related to affirmative or negative premises affirmative conclusion from a negative premise fallacy of exclusive premises negative conclusion from affirmative premises existential fallacyfallacy of the undistributed middle illicit major illicit minor fallacy of necessity Occurring in disjunctive syllogism s affirming a disjunct Occurring in statistical syllogism s dicto simpliciter fallacies accident fallacy accident converse accident External links http www.fallacyfiles.org syllfall.html Fallacy files Syllogistic fallacy Formal Fallacy logic stub Category Formal fallacies Category Syllogistic fallacies fa he ... more details
Unreferenced stub auto yes date December 2009 A fallacy of distribution is a logical fallacy occurring when an argument assumes there is no difference between a term in the distributive referring to every member of a class and collective referring to the class itself as a whole sense. There are two variations of this fallacyFallacy of composition assumes what is true of the parts is true of the whole. This fallacy is also known as arguing from the specific to the general Since Judy is so diligent in the workplace, this entire company must have an amazing work ethic. Fallacy of division assumes what is true of the whole is true of its parts or some subset of parts . Because this company is so corrupt, so must every employee within it be corrupt. While fallacious, arguments that make these assumptions may be persuasive because of the representativeness heuristic . See also Existential fallacyFallacy of the undistributed middle Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny Informal Fallacy DEFAULTSORT Fallacy Of Distribution Category Logic Category Logical fallacies Logic stub he ... more details
Unreferenced date December 2009 The relativist fallacy , also known as the subjectivist fallacy , is a fallacy committed, roughly speaking, when one person claims that something may be true for one person but not true for someone else. The fallacy is supposed to rest on the law of non contradiction . The fallacy, it is said, applies only to objective facts, or what are alleged to be objective facts, rather than to facts about personal tastes or subjective experiences, and only to facts regarded in the same sense and at the same time. On this formulation, the very name relativist fallacy Begging ... it clear wherein, exactly, the fallacy lies. There are at least two ways to interpret the relativist fallacy either as identical to relativism generally , or as the ad hoc adoption of a relativist stance ... fallacy which make the fallacy out to be identical to relativism e.g., Sapir Whorf hypothesis linguistic relativism or cultural relativism are themselves committing a commonly identified fallacy of informal logic, namely, Logical fallacy Begging the question begging the question against an earnest, intelligent, logically competent relativist. It is itself a fallacy to describe a controversial view as a fallacy &mdash not, at least, without arguing that it is a fallacy. In any event, it will not do ... fallacy. If one commits a fallacy, one says something false or not worth serious consideration ... be said to have committed a fallacy. The accusation of having committed a fallacy might rest on either ... that it straightforwardly contradicts the Law of Non Contradiction or 2 the defense and thus the fallacy ... interpretation of the fallacy, in determining whether the relativist fallacy has been committed, one ... facts, and so he does not commit the fallacy. References Law, Stephen 2005 Thinking Tools The Relativist Fallacy, Think Philosophy for everyone A journal of the the Royal Institute of Philosophy 3 57 58 y See also Formal fallacy Informal fallacy DEFAULTSORT Relativist Fallacy Category Logical ... more details
The psychologist s fallacy is a fallacy that occurs when an observer presupposes the objectivity of his own perspective when analyzing a behavioral event. The fallacy was named by William James in the 19th century. It is a specific form of the similar to me stereotype what is unknown about another person is assumed, for simplicity, using things the observer knows about himself. Such a bias leads the observer to presuppose knowledge or skills, or lack of such, possessed by another person. For example, I or everyone I know or most people I know don t know very much about chemistry. Therefore I can assume that this other person knows very little about chemistry . This assumption may be true in any number of specific cases, making inductive reasoning based on this assumption cogent , but is not applicable in the general case there are many people who are very knowledgeable in the field of chemistry , and therefore deductive reasoning based on this assumption may be invalid. The great snare of the psychologist is the confusion of his own standpoint with that of the mental fact about which he is making his report. I shall hereafter call this the psychologist s fallacy par excellence. William James, Principles of Psychology volume I. chapter vii. p. 196, 1890 Psychologist s fallacy, the fallacy, to which the psychologist is peculiarly liable, of reading into the mind he is examining what is true of his own especially of reading into lower minds what is true of higher. James Mark Baldwin , Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology volume II. p. 382 2, 1902 A danger to be avoided known as the psychologist s fallacy . This arises from the fact that the experimenter is apt to suppose that the subject will respond to a stimulus or an order in the same way as he himself would respond in the circumstances. British Journal of Psychology . XXI. p. 243, 1931 The psychologist s fallacy is considered analogous to David Hackett Fischer s historian s fallacy . DEFAULTSORT Psychologist s Fallacy ... more details
Refimprove date May 2010 Wiktionary fallacy A deductive fallacy is defined as a deductive argument that is invalid. The argument itself could have true premise s, but still have a false logical consequence conclusion . ref cite web url http www.nizkor.org features fallacies title Description of Fallacies last Labossiere first Michael year 1995 publisher The Nizkor Project accessdate 2008 09 09 ref Thus, a deductive fallacy is a fallacy where deduction goes wrong, and is no longer a logical process. Logical fallacy The standard Aristotelian logical fallacies are Fallacy of four terms Quaternio terminorum Fallacy of the undistributed middle Fallacy of illicit process of the illicit major major or the illicit minor term and Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise . Other logical fallacies include The begging the question self reliant fallacy In philosophy , the term logical fallacy properly refers to a formal fallacy a flaw in the structure of a deductive reasoning deductive logical ... informal fallacy informal fallacies as well as formal fallacies valid but soundness unsound claims or poor non deductive argumentation. The presence of a formal fallacy in a deductive argument does not imply anything about the argument s premises or its conclusion see fallacyfallacy . Both may ... described. By extension, an argument can contain a formal fallacy even if the argument ... or causality can be said to commit a formal fallacy. Example File Logical fallacy.svg thumb 250px A Venn diagram illustrating a fallacy br Statement 1 Most of the green is touching the red. br Statement 2 Most of the red is touching the blue. br Logical fallacy Since most of the green is touching ..., is a false statement. In the strictest sense, a logical fallacy is the incorrect application of a valid ... fallacy is formed by points that may individually appear logical, but when placed together ... relevance fallacies formal fallacy informal fallacy DEFAULTSORT Deductive Fallacy Category Deduction ... more details
One source date September 2010 The animistic fallacy is the logical fallacy of arguing that an event or situation necessarily arose because someone intentionally acted to cause it. ref name Sowell cite book title Knowledge and decisions authorlink Thomas Sowell last Sowell first Thomas edition 3rd publisher Basic Books year 1996 isbn 9780465037384 pages 97 100 url http books.google.com books?id 4kqTMrEKWXoC&pg PA97 ref While it could be that someone set out to effect a specific goal, the fallacy appears in an argument that states this must be the case. ref name Sowell The name of the fallacy comes from the animism animistic belief that changes in the physical world are the work of conscious spirits. Citation needed date September 2010 Examples Thomas Sowell in his book Knowledge and Decisions presents several arguments as examples of the animistic fallacy ref name Sowell in the teleological argument argument from design for the existence of God that the order and complexity observed in nature must be the result of a creator that people earn wealth always because of superior choices that central planning is necessary to prevent chaos in society Sowell repeatedly dismisses the necessity that order comes from design, and notes that fallacious animistic arguments tend to provide explanations that require comparatively little time to implement. In this light he contrasts the Genesis creation narrative six day creation of the world described in the Bible to the development of life over billions of years described by evolution . See also Argument from ignorance Pathetic fallacy Reification fallacy References Reflist Informal fallacy DEFAULTSORT Animistic Fallacy Category Causal fallacies philosophy stub he ... more details
distinguish Historian s fallacy The Historical fallacy , also called the psychological fallacy , is a logical fallacy originally described by philosopher John Dewey in 1896. The historical fallacy occurs when a set of considerations which hold good only because a completed process is read into the content of the process which conditions this completed result. ref The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology , John Dewey, 1896 ref More simply stated, one commits the historical fallacy when one reads into a process the results that occur because of that process. Example A person coming across a loaf of bread without knowing the process by which bread is made, might begin to try to understand how to make bread by analyzing only its ingredients. Finding that bread contains a large amount of air, one might conclude that air is an ingredient used in making bread. However, a baker does not add air into bread. Rather yeast creates a chemical process that causes the bread to rise with air. The fallacy is in not recognizing that air is a result of the process of making bread and not part of the process that makes it. Completed results supervene upon processes that are not necessarily reducible to the parts of that process. Applications The historical fallacy has implication in analytic philosophy and metalogic . For instance many analytic philosophers apply logic to metaphysics metaphysical questions without inquiring into the metaphysical processes underlying logic. Thus many process theorists might contend that much of analytic philosophy is undermined by the historical fallacy. See also Process theory References references External links http psychclassics.yorku.ca Dewey reflex.htm The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology 1896 Category Logical fallacies ... more details
For other uses of prescience, see precognition . The fallacy of prescience is a term used by Smith, DeShaye and Stoicheff Who date January 2009 to describe an erroneous exploratory research technique in which the experimental scaffolding embeds assumptions about what will be discovered. The example cited describes a common practice in Humanities Computing in which an XML database and schema are designed at the outset of a research project to annotate a document as a means of discovering the structural relationships within the subject text. The fallacy, they say, arises from the fact that some inferences must be made about the structures that will be discovered in order to construct the schema that will describe them. The fallacy of prescience can be viewed as a procedural manifestation of the informal fallacy of begging the question . External links http llc.oxfordjournals.org cgi content full 21 2 199 Callimachus Avoiding the Pitfalls of XML for Collaborative Text Analysis Category Causal fallacies Category Pseudoscience ... more details
The Descriptive Fallacy was suggested by J.L. Austin in 1955 in the lectures now known as How to Do Things With Words . It is applied to reasoning which treats a speech act as if it were a logical proposition . logic stub Category Logical fallacies ... more details
The definist fallacy can refer to three logical fallacy logical fallacies related to how terms are defined in an argument. The first, coined by William Frankena in 1939, involves the definition of one property in terms of another. The second fallacy refers to the insisted use of a persuasive definition ref name IEP Fallacies cite encyclopedia title Fallacies encyclopedia Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy accessdate March 31, 2011 last Dowden first Bradley date December 31, 2010 url http www.iep.utm.edu fallacy Persuasive 20Definition ref in an argument. Finally, it can also refer to the Socratic fallacy in which terms are required to be defined before use. ref name Blackwell cite encyclopedia last Bunnin first Nicholas coauthors Jiyuan Yu encyclopedia The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy title Definist fallacy url year 2004 publisher Wiley Blackwell isbn 9781405106795 page 165 url http books.google.com books?id OskKWI1YA7AC&pg PA165 ref This article focuses on the first of these fallacies. The philosopher William Frankena first used the term definist fallacy in a paper published in the British analytic philosophy journal Mind journal Mind in 1939. ref name Frankena 1939 cite journal title The Naturalistic Fallacy first W. K. last Frankena work Mind volume 48 number 192 ... he generalized and critiqued G. E. Moore s naturalistic fallacy , which argued that good cannot ... Preston first Aaron date December 30, 2005 ref Frankena argued that the naturalistic fallacy is a complete misnomer because it is neither limited to naturalistic properties nor necessarily a fallacy ...?id lxnsElfqa70C&pg PA94 year 1989 ref On the second word fallacy , Frankena rejected the idea that it represented an error in reasoning &ndash a fallacy as it is usually recognized &ndash rather than ... two things that may be identical in fact are. ref name Flew cite encyclopedia title Definist fallacy ... the fallacy of begging the question . ref name Ridge References Reflist Category Logical fallacies ... more details
A fallacy of division occurs when one reasons logic ally that something true of a thing must also be true of all or some of its parts. An example A Boeing 747 can fly unaided across the ocean. A Boeing 747 has jet engines. Therefore, one of its jet engines can fly unaided across the ocean. The converse of this fallacy is called fallacy of composition , which arises when one fallaciously attributes a property of some part of a thing to the thing as a whole. Both fallacies were addressed by Aristotle in Sophistical Refutations . Another example Functioning brains think. Functioning brains are nothing but the neurons that they are composed of. If functioning brains think, then the individual neurons in them think. Individual neurons do not think. Functioning brains do not think. From 3 & 4 Functioning brains think and functioning brains do not think. From 1 & 5 Since the premises Entailment entail a contradiction 6 , at least one of the premises must be false. We may diagnose the problem as located in premise 3, which quite plausibly commits the fallacy of division. An application Famously and controversially, in the philosophy of the Greek Anaxagoras at least as it is discussed by the Roman Atomist Lucretius , it was assumed that the atoms constituting a substance must themselves have the salient observed properties of that substance so atoms of water would be wet, atoms of iron would be hard, atoms of wool would be soft, etc. This doctrine is called homeomeria , and it plainly depends on the fallacy of division. If a system as a whole has some property that none of its constituents has or perhaps, it has it but not as a result of some constituent having that property , this is sometimes called an Emergence emergent property of the system. External links http www.fallacyfiles.org division.html Logical Fallacy Division The Fallacy Files Informal Fallacy Category Verbal fallacies Division philo stub es Falacia de divisi n he ro Diviziunea ilogic fi V r divisio ... more details
The furtive fallacy is an informal fallacy of emphasis. Historian David Hackett Fischer identified it as the belief that significant facts of history are necessarily sinister, and that history itself is a story of causes mostly insidious and results mostly invidious. It is more than a conspiracy theory in that it does not merely consider the possibility of hidden motives and deeds, but insists on them. In its extreme form, the fallacy represents general paranoia . ref name fischer cite book first David Hackett last Fischer year 1970 title Historians Fallacies ref Fischer identifies several examples of the fallacy, particularly the works of Charles Beard . In each case, the example provides detailed portrayals of historical figures involved in off record meetings and exhibiting low morals, based on little or no evidence. He notes that the furtive fallacy does not necessarily imply deliberate falsification of history it can follow from a sincere but misguided belief that nothing happens by accident or mistake. ref name fischer Richard Hofstadter discussed the fallacy before Fischer, although not by name. In reviewing histories from the Progressive Era , Hofstadter noted the assumption that reality was always hidden and ignored, being determined by bribes, rebates, and secret business deals. ref name fischer ref name hofstadter cite book first Richard last Hofstadter year 1955 title The Age of Reform ref A modification of the furtive fallacy holds that when the historical record provides no evidence explaining a particular set of events, this is itself evidence of a furtive cause. ref name davidson cite book first Ronald M. last Davidson year 2002 title Indian Esoteric Buddhism ref Notes Reflist Further reading cite book first Joseph last Roisman year 2003 title Brill s Companion to Alexander the Great Informal fallacy Category Informal fallacies ... more details
Expert subject Philosophy Logic date September 2009 No footnotes date November 2010 The existential fallacy , or existential instantiation , is a logical fallacy in Boolean logic while it isn t in Aristotelian logic . In an existential fallacy, we presuppose that a class has members even when we are not explicitly told so that is, we assume that the class has existential import . An existential fallacy committed in a categorical syllogism is validity invalid because it has two universal premises and a particular conclusion. In other words, for the conclusion to be true, at least one member of the class must exist, but the premises do not establish this. Boolean logic In modern times, presupposition that a class has members is seen as unacceptable. In 1905, Bertrand Russell wrote an essay entitled The Existential Import of Proposition , in which he called this Boolean approach Guiseppe Peano Peano s interpretation . The fallacy does not occur in enthymeme s, where hidden premises required to make the syllogism valid assume the existence of at least one member of the class. Examples 1st example Let S subject and P predicate. Consider the following two propositions A proposition says, All S is P. I proposition says, Some S is P. This is an existential fallacy of subalternation . However, in Aristotelian logic, this mode of reasoning is perfectly permissible. Let S soldiers and P heroes. We then have All S soldiers are P heroes . Some S is P. That is, if all soldiers are heroes, then at least .... This conclusion is an existential fallacy. The absurdity of the result become especially evident ... 2 to its subaltern 3 . The existential fallacy is a syllogistic fallacy . Modern logical constructs ... reflist External links http www.fallacyfiles.org existent.html Fallacy files existential fallacy http www.swif.uniba.it lei foldop foldoc.cgi?existential fallacy FOLDOC existential fallacy Formal Fallacy FOLDOC logic stub Category Syllogistic fallacies Category Quantificational fallacies he ... more details
An informal fallacy is an Logical argument argument whose stated premises fail to support their proposed conclusion. ref Kelley, D. 1994 The Art of Reasoning . W W Norton & Company, Inc. ISBN 0 393 96466 3 ref The deviation in an informal fallacy often stems from a flaw in the path of reason ing that links the premises to the conclusion. In contrast to a formal fallacy , the error has to do with issues of inference ratiocination manifest in natural language language used to state the propositions the range of elements that can be symbolized by language is broader than that which the symbolism of Mathematical logic formal logic can represent. Deductive and inductive informal fallacies Informal fallacies of deductive reasoning contain a fundamental disconnect between the premises and the conclusion that renders the argument validity invalid . This disconnect often stems from the presence of a hidden co premise that, if presented, would validate the argument. Inductive reasoning Inductive informal fallacies are slightly different from their deductive counterparts, as their merit rests in the Statistical inference inductive strength of the premise conclusion link rather than in the presence of hidden premises. For instance, the fallacy of hasty generalization , can be roughly stated as p A is an X p A is also a Y c therefore, all X s are also Y s If the populations X and Y are both too large to sample completely, then the statement is inductive. In such a case, a hasty generalization occurs when the number of X s and Y s is insufficient to represent the respective populations. It is important to distinguish between a principle of reasoning deductive or inductive and the premise ... to Fallacy Free Arguments year 2009 edition 6E url http www.duxbury.com cengage instructor.do?product ... node 350 An Informal Fallacy Primer http www.fallacyfiles.org inforfal.html The Fallacy Files Informal Fallacy Informal Fallacy DEFAULTSORT Informal Fallacy Category Philosophical logic ... more details
The logical fallacy of accident also called destroying the exception or a dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid is a deductive reasoning deductive fallacy occurring in statistical syllogisms an argument based on a generalization when an exception to a rule of thumb ref http fallacyfiles.org accident.html ref is ignored. It is one of the thirteen fallacies originally identified by Aristotle . The fallacy occurs when one attempts to apply a general rule to an irrelevant situation. For instance Cutting people with a knife is a crime. Surgeons cut people with knives. Surgeons are criminals. It is easy to construct fallacious arguments by applying general statements to specific incidents that are obviously exceptions. Generalizations that are weak generally have more exceptions the number of exceptions to the generalization need not be a minority of cases and vice versa. This fallacy may occur when we confuse generalizations some for categorical statement s always and everywhere . It may be encouraged when no qualifier qualifying words like some , many , rarely etc. are used to mark the generalization. For example Germans are Nazism Nazis The premise above could be used in an argument concluding that all Germans or current Germans should be held responsible for the actions of the Nazis. Qualifying the major term first term Some Germans are Nazis This premise may make it more obvious that it is making an extremely weak generalization and not a categorical rule. Related Inductive reasoning inductive fallacies include overwhelming exception , hasty generalization . See faulty generalization . The opposing kind of dicto simpliciter fallacy is the converse accident . References Reflist External links http fallacyfiles.org accident.html Fallacy files Accident Informal Fallacy Relevance fallacies Category Relevance fallacies Category Syllogistic fallacies es Accidente falacia he lt I imtis argumentacija pl B d akcydentalizacji pt Dicto secundum quid ad ... more details
Refimprove date January 2008 File Pathetic fallacy PSF .png thumb 250px A visual illustration of one of the most famous examples of the literary use of the pathetic fallacy, from Samuel Taylor Coleridge ... Fallacy . The pathetic fallacy or Anthropomorphism anthropomorphic fallacy is the treatment ... EBchecked topic 446415 pathetic fallacy ref The pathetic fallacy is a special case of the Reification fallacyfallacy of reification . The word wikt pathetic pathetic in this use is related ..., the pathetic fallacy is similar to personification . Personification is direct and explicit in the ascription of life and sentience to the thing in question, whereas the pathetic fallacy is much broader ... 1819 1900 in his 1856 work Modern Painters , in which he wrote that the aim of the pathetic fallacy ..., sensations, and emotions. In the narrow sense intended by Ruskin, the pathetic fallacy is a scientific ... shop ruskinj Of the Pathetic Fallacy , from Modern Painters , volume iii, pt. 4, 1856. Retrieved ... upon it. However, in the natural sciences , a pathetic fallacy is a serious error in scientific reasoning ... pathetic fallacy was derogatory. In legend According to legend, when Xerxes I of Persia Xerxes ... fallacy as an artistic mistake, instead assuming that attribution of Sentience sentient , humanising ... fallacy would mean dismissing most Romantic poetry and many of William Shakespeare Shakespeare s most ... sense. Josephine Miles in Pathetic Fallacy in the Nineteenth Century A Study of a Changing Relation ... of personification . In the strictest sense, delivering this fallacy should be done to render analogy . Fact date January 2009 Other reasons to deliver this fallacy are mnemonic . Fact date January 2009 In the ongoing comic book series Jack of Fables , the Pathetic Fallacy itself is embodied ... example of pathetic fallacy poem There has fallen a splendid tear From the passion flower ... this is merely a poem its not considered a fallacy, but a creative muse or literary device. Other ... more details
TOC right Reification also known as hypostatisation , concretism , or the fallacy of misplaced concreteness is a fallacy of ambiguity , when an abstraction abstract belief or hypothetical construct is treated ... is usually regarded as a fallacy. For example, Justice is blind the blind cannot read printed laws ... are attributed as well, it is a special case of reification, known as pathetic fallacy or anthropomorphic fallacy . Reification may derive from an inborn tendency to simplify experience by assuming constancy ..., such as existence, good, and justice. ref name auto Fallacy of misplaced concreteness In the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead , one commits the fallacy of misplaced concreteness when ... for the concrete. It is an example of what I will call the Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness ... ref blockquote Whitehead proposed the fallacy in a discussion of the relation of spatial and temporal ... of what I have termed The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness. ref cite book last Whitehead ... Similar fallacies Pathetic fallacy also known as anthropomorphic fallacy or anthropomorphization ... to an abstract idea, a pathetic fallacy is when those characteristics are specifically human characteristics ... blfaq fall reification.htm Reification fallacy as used in agnosticism and atheism discussions ref Pathetic fallacy is also related to personification , which is a direct and explicit in the ascription of life and sentience to the thing in question, whereas the pathetic fallacy is much broader and more allusive. The animistic fallacy involves attributing intention of a person to an event or situation ..., so we missed the train. animistic fallacy , compared to The train was impatient. reification . Reification fallacy should not be confused with other fallacies of ambiguity accentus fallacy Accentus ... fallacy arising from ambiguity in the grammatical structure of a sentence fallacy of composition ... fallacy of division Division , when one assumes that various parts have a property solely ... more details
Refimprove date April 2009 Original research article date August 2009 The continuum fallacy also called the fallacy of the beard ref David Roberts http writing2.richmond.edu WRITING wweb reason2d.html Reasoning Other Fallacies ref , line drawing fallacy , bald man fallacy , fallacy of the heap , and the sorites fallacy is an informal logical fallacy closely related to the sorites paradox , or paradox of the heap. The fallacy causes one to erroneously reject a vagueness vague proposition claim simply because it is not as precise as one would like it to be. Vagueness alone does not necessarily imply invalidity. The fallacy appears to demonstrate that two states or conditions cannot be considered difference distinct or do not exist at all because between them there exists a continuum theory continuum of states. According to the fallacy, differences in Quality philosophy quality cannot result from differences in quantity . There are clearly reasonable and clearly unreasonable cases in which objects either belong or do not belong to a particular group of objects based on their properties. We are able to take them case by case and designate them as such even in the case of properties which may be vaguely defined. The existence of hard or controversial cases does not preclude our ability to designate members of particular kinds of groups. Relation with sorites paradox Narrowly speaking ... 1 and 1,000,000 grains of sand, hence 1,000,000 possible states , while the continuum fallacy refers ... be very many discrete states. For the purpose of the continuum fallacy, one assumes that there is in fact ... the sorites paradox can also be used against the continuum fallacy. One argument against the fallacy ..., he can never be called bald. The heap The fallacy can be described in the form of a conversation ... have a heap. Therefore, heaps don t exist Others Other uses of this fallacy seem to prove that No man ... language Fuzzy logic Closed concept Informal Fallacy Category Informal fallacies de Vexierfrage ... more details
The genetic fallacy is a Ignoratio elenchi fallacy of irrelevance where a conclusion is suggested based solely on something or someone s origin rather than its current meaning or context. This overlooks any difference to be found in the present situation, typically transferring the positive or negative esteem from the earlier context. The fallacy therefore fails to assess the claim on its merit. The first criterion of a good argument is that the premises must have bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim in question. ref Attacking Faulty Reasoning A Practical Guide to Fallacy Free Arguments Third Edition by T. Edward Damer, chapter II, subsection The Relevance Criterion pg. 12 ref Genetic accounts of an issue may be true, and they may help illuminate the reasons why the issue has assumed its present form, but they are irrelevant to its merits. ref With Good Reason An Introduction to Informal Fallacies Fifth Edition by S. Morris Engel, chapter V, subsection 1 pg. 198 ref According to the Oxford Companion to Philosophy , the term originates in Morris Cohen and Ernest Nagel s book Logic and Scientific Method . Examples Two examples are plenty, and we will only accept material that is sourced from a book preferably a textbook on logic. From Attacking Faulty Reasoning by T. Edward Damer, Third Edition p. 36 cquote You re not going to wear a wedding ring , are you? Don t you know that the wedding ring originally symbolized ankle chains worn by women to prevent them from running ... occurring example of this style of reasoning can be called the etymological fallacy . This presents ... www.nizkor.org features fallacies genetic fallacy.html Nizkor Genetic fallacy http atheism.about.com library FAQs skepticism blfaq fall genetic.htm Fallacies of relevance Genetic fallacy from atheism web http www.friesian.com genetic.htm Forms of the genetic fallacy http www.fallacyfiles.org genefall.html Fallacy files Genetic fallacy Red Herring Fallacy Category Genetic fallacies es Falacia gen tica ... more details
one source date November 2010 Intentional fallacy , in literary criticism , addresses the assumption that the Meaning linguistic meaning intended by the author of a literary work is of primary importance. By characterizing this assumption as a fallacy , a critic suggests that the author s Authorial intentionality intention is not important. The term is an important principle of New Criticism and was first used by W.K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley in their essay The Intentional Fallacy 1946 rev. 1954 the design or intention of the author is neither available nor desirable as a standard for judging the success of a work of literary art. The phrase intentional fallacy is somewhat ambiguous, but it means a fallacy about authorial intentionality intent and not a fallacy committed on purpose. Wimsatt and Beardsley divide the evidence used in making interpretations of literary texts although their analysis can be applied equally well to any type of art into three categories blockquote 1 Internal evidence. Internal evidence is the actual details present inside a given work. The apparent content of a work is the internal evidence, including any historical knowledge and past expertise or experience with the kind of art being interpreted that is required to understand what that work is its forms and traditions. The form of epic poetry, the meter, quotations etc. are internal to the work. This information is internal to the type or genre of art that is being examined, and includes those things ... presents an intentional fallacy. blockquote blockquote 2 External evidence. What is not literally contained ... fallacy. blockquote blockquote 3 Contextual evidence. The third type of evidence concerns any meanings ... does not necessarily indicate an intentional fallacy. The meaning of an artist s work may ... as an intentional fallacy. blockquote Thus, a text s internal evidence &mdash the words themselves ... W.K. Wimsatt Wimsatt, William K. and Monroe Beardsley Monroe C. Beardsley . The Intentional Fallacy ... more details
Orphan date February 2009 refimprove date December 2008 The Netherlands fallacy refers to an error in assuming that the environmental impacts of the Netherlands and other rich nations are contained within their national borders. Ecologists in recent years have begun to analyze the ecological sink capacities of poor nations. As polluting industries migrate from rich to poor nations, the environmental footprint of rich nations shrinks. The nature of the fallacy is to ignore the increasing environmental impact of developing nations and conclude that global environmental conditions are improving. Bibliography Ehrlich, Paul R. and Anne H. Ehrlich 1990 The Population Explosion Category Environment environment stub ... more details
distinguish Historical fallacy The historian s fallacy is a logical fallacy that occurs when one assumes that decision makers of the past viewed events from the same perspective and having the same information as those subsequently analyzing the decision. It is not to be confused with Presentism literary and historical analysis presentism , a mode of historical analysis in which present day ideas such as moral standards are projected into the past. The fallacy was outlined in 1970 by David Hackett Fischer , who suggested it was analogous to William James s psychologist s fallacy . Fischer did not suggest that historians should refrain from retrospective analysis in their work, but he reminded historians that their subjects were not able to see into the future. As an example, he cited the well known argument that Japan s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor should have been predictable in the United States because of the many indications that an attack was imminent. What this argument overlooks, says Fischer, citing the work of Roberta Wohlstetter , is that there were innumerable conflicting signs which suggested possibilities other than an attack on Pearl Harbor. Only in retrospect do the warning signs seem obvious signs which pointed in other directions tend to be forgotten. See also hindsight bias . In the field of military history , historians sometimes use what is known as the fog of war technique in hopes of avoiding the historian s fallacy. In this approach, the actions and decisions of the historical subject such as a military commander are evaluated primarily on the basis of what that person knew at the time, and not on future developments that the person could not have known. According to Fischer, this technique was pioneered by the American historian Douglas Southall Freeman in his influential biographies of Robert E. Lee and George Washington . See also Cognitive bias List of cognitive biases References Fischer, David Hackett. Historians Fallacies Toward a Logic ... more details
unreferenced date December 2008 A fallacy of necessity fellacia necessitas is a logical fallacyfallacy in the logic of a syllogism whereby a degree of unwarranted necessity is placed in the conclusion. Example a Bachelors are necessarily unmarried. b John is a bachelor. Therefore, c John cannot marry. The condition a appears to be a Tautology rhetoric tautology and therefore true. The condition b is a statement of fact about John which makes him subject to a that is, b declares John a bachelor, and a states that all bachelors are unmarried. Because c presumes b will always be the case, it is a fallacy of necessity. John, of course, is always free to stop being a bachelor, simply by getting married if he does so, b is no longer true and thus not subject to the tautology logic tautology a . In this case, c has unwarranted necessity by assuming, incorrectly, that John cannot stop being a bachelor. Formally speaking, this type of argument equivocates between the De dicto and de re Context of modality de dicto necessity of a and the De dicto and de re Context of modality de re necessity of c . The argument is only valid if both a and c are construed de re . This, however, would undermine the argument, as a is only a tautology de dicto indeed, interpreted de re , it is false. Another example of fallacy by necessity stated less formally There are a lot of car accidents on this road. We must reduce the number of car accidents. There would be no car accidents if we closed the road. Therefore we must close this road. The necessity of reducing the number of car accidents is extended to imply the necessity of closing the road clearly ignoring other plausible solutions to the problem of car accidents. Formal Fallacy Category Syllogistic fallacies Necessity Category Necessity ... more details
More footnotes date December 2010 In philosophical logic philosophy , a formal fallacy is a pattern of reasoning ... argument which renders the argument validity invalid . A formal fallacy is contrasted with an informal fallacy , which may have a valid logical form , but be false due to the characteristics of its premise s, or its justification structure. The term fallacy is often used more generally to mean ... fallacy in a deductive argument does not imply anything about the argument s premises or its ... the premises in the manner described. By extension, an argument can contain a formal fallacy even ... principles of probability or causality can be said to commit a formal fallacy. Fallacious arguments ... and opinion based news shows. In contrast to informal fallacy As modus ponens , the following argument ... fallacy being committed in this assertion is Argument from authority . By contrast, an argument with a formal fallacy could still contain all true premises If Bill Gates owns Fort Knox , then he is rich ..., 3 does not follow because the argument commits the formal fallacy of affirming the consequent . An argument could contain both an informal fallacy and a formal fallacy yet have a correct conclusion ... about it. Common examples main List of fallacies For a list of types of formal and informal fallacy, as well as examples of fallacious arguments, see Fallacy . For a concise list of appeal to fallacies ... ad populum Bandwagon fallacy Cogency Cognitive bias Conjunction fallacy col 2 of 3 Demagogy Fallacy ... Reasoning A Practical Guide to Fallacy free Arguments edition 6th place Belmont, California publisher .... Ward and William B. Holther, http www.ditext.com fearnside fallacy.html Fallacy The Counterfeit of Argument ... Logical Fallacies a semi ordered list with definitions http www.fallacyfiles.org The Fallacy ... Fallacies intro fallacies.asp Fallacy Page http onegoodmove.org fallacy welcome.htm Stephen Downes ... Fallacies formal fallacy Category Philosophical logic Category Formal fallacies ja pl B dy ... more details
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