Questions tagged [fallacies]
Concerns formal (syllogistic) fallacies, informal (rhetorical) fallacies, tactical misdirection, and errors in logic or reasoning more broadly put.
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What's the name of the logical fallacy of when you answer a question with essentially something that doesn't mean anything?
I've been trying to search in Wikipedia's list of fallacies but didn't find one that seemed to quite fit this case.
Is there a name for the fallacy of when someone answers a question with essentially ...
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Is it "unscientific" to be sceptical without offering alternative explanations?
Alice has made some anecdotal observations. Through a process of elimination, she proposes a hypothesis to explain the phenomenon, as well as an experiment to validate (or otherwise) her hypothesis. ...
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What fallacy is this?
P1: My opinions change as a result of brain function
P2: Brain function is caused by opinions stored within it (slightly dodgy premise but if you wouldn't mind assuming it to be true, whether it is ...
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Can reason be precisely defined?
Reason, or rationality, is classically defined as deriving a conclusion from observations. Again, classically this is achieved by the application of logic. Aristotle explained it in this way. There ...
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On Modus Ponens/Tollens Fallacies
Modus Ponens
IF p THEN q
p
Ergo,
q
Valid!
Modus Tollens
IF p THEN q
~q
Ergo,
~p
Valid!
Converse Fallacy
IF p THEN q
q
Ergo,
p
Invalid!
Inverse Fallacy
IF p THEN q
~p
Ergo,
~q
Invalid.
...
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Is modus ponens inherently circular?
Consider this simple argument for why Socrates is mortal:
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Thus, Socrates is mortal.
This argument can be roughly formalized as follows:
IF P THEN Q
R
R≡P
Q
...
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Category errors and positive properties
A category error is what you get when you assert of an object x a property p which makes no sense when applied to x. Examples:
The number two is red.
The number two was created at time t.
The dog is ...
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Is the principle of charity just confirmation bias?
The principle of charity seems absolutely integral to studying philosophy in any way at all.
How does an overlap of charity and confirmation bias work out, either in the class room or in philosophical ...
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What fallacy is it when someone accuses an entire group of hypocrisy, instead of taking into account individual opposing ideas?
For example -
"You all claim to want women's liberation, yet you bully women into shaving. Therefore you don't truly want women's liberation."
It's unlikely these contradictory actions/...
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What’s the logical fallacy that’s based on “what could have been” arguments?
I’ve recently become interested with religious philosophy, and when researching I often come across this line of thought: “it would’ve been better if life hadn’t been created at all, because living is ...
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Is it as fallacy to say that you misunderstand in some unspecifiable way?
Suppose I am presented with an argument, and respond that they have misunderstood something so badly that, while I am clear about what is being said, I cannot say what error the argument (or question) ...
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Fallacy of the Devil You Know
I just made up that name for the fallacy, but I'm wondering if there is a more common term for it. The fallacy is basically inferring from an inconclusive set of evidence to a particular explanation ...
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Can this be an example of sophism?
Foreword:
0 is considered an even number,
but if 0 would be an even number,
then 0 apples would count an even number of apples.
Example:
3 apples [🍏🍏🍏]
2 apples [🍏🍏 ]
1 apple [🍏 ]
...
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Word-Pairing Rhetorical Tactic
I am looking for a name referring to a rhetoric/propaganda tactic in which words are paired together to change perceptions? For example, if I said, "a controversial speaker is giving a lecture at ...
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Is there a distance so small it can't be further divided?
If I shoot an arrow at a target, at some point it will reach one half of the distance to the target. Then it will reach one half of that distance. It will continue to reach the half of the previous ...
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Is there a correlation fallacy?
I was listening to a YouTube channel talk about diet soda and the YouTuber said:
"Artificial sweeteners make you gain weight? That is bullshit! Pretty much all the evidence comes from ...
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Rejecting a proposition because there are other similar propositions
Some unbelievers come up with the argument along the line of:
Religion A says it is the absolute truth, so does Religion B, so does
Religion C, and so forth. So the logical conclusion is that all are
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Isn’t every inference a fallacy?
Unless the conclusion after a set of premises is necessary or from a deductively valid argument, isn’t every inference technically a fallacy?
And so if every inference is a fallacy, why the need for ...
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What is the fallacy called where "Nothing a liar said can be true?"
What is the fallacy called where "Nothing a liar said can be true" (i.e., "false in most things, false in everything")?
For example, consider that 99% of something someone said is ...
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Type of false reasoning?
I don't have extensive background in philosophy but I try to outline my question clearly.
I am arguing with a person who always uses the same logic.
We have an outcome X such a medical disease ...
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Is attacking an argument because it's machine generated an ad hominem fallacy?
I really want to say rejecting a line of reasoning because ChatGPT created it would be an ad machina argument.
(Note, I'm interested in the case where the rejection is made without any consideration ...
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Begging the question is a type of circular reasoning?
From wikipedia:
Begging the question is a type of circular reasoning, and often occurs in an indirect way such that the fallacy's presence is hidden, or at least not easily apparent.
Is that ...
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If there is one conspiracy, then may there be many?
Clearly, there have been some sorts of conspiracies and secrets in the past, and this doesn't mean that we should take the claim the moon landings were faked very seriously. But what if you found out ...
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Is this is logical fallacy?
"I've always argued P. But in this case, I believe not-P. (Implied conclusion: in this case, not-P)"
One hears it from political commentators and others who think that their own personal ...
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Fallacies and biases of analogical reasoning
When we observe a dog
wounded in a traffic accident, for instance, we infer that the dog must be in pain, based on the
analogy between humans and dogs and what we know about humans. The structure of ...
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If moral statements aren't supposed to be reports of objective facts, does the practice of "fallacy checking" apply to moral arguments?
Maybe this is just a case of Jörgensen’s dilemma, but so I was reading the SEP article about feminist perspectives on argumentation, more specifically this passage:
The difficulty some philosophers ...
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U disagree with me and I say "U always do the same", actually me doing the same! [closed]
Sometimes people are talking to you, then you disagree with them, then they will accuse you of "always disagreeing and/or not compliant". But in fact they are doing the same thing that they ...
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Attacker accuses the defender. What fallacy is going on here?
Suppose one country, the aggressor, launches a missile attack against another country, the defender. During the attack, the defender activates its anti-missile defense system and successfully shoots ...
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The "Linking" Trick
This is more of a persuasion/manipulation tactic I see mostly media outlets employ. Linking is the name I came up with to describe when something is intentionally associated with something else to ...
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Master morality vs slave morality
I have read master morality vs slave morality through youtube and net. Every one has different interpretation.
Can some one summarize and explain what Nietzsche really tried to say ?
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Does THIS fallacy have a name? [duplicate]
Three examples of what I mean:
I argue against trying to increase social equality in your country, because there will always be much poorer countries.
I argue against exercising, because you will ...
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Isn't there a very obvious flaw in the Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit?
I have read the Wikipedia article on the Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit, first published by Richard Dawkins, and it seems to me that there is a very obvious problem with the argument that isn't mentioned ...
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Provenance of 'malicious joke' "He has not interpreted my words as I intended. For I intended that there be no counterexamples."
I doubt this could be where I originally came across this quip/joke, but a google search found it in footnote #2 of [1]. The footnote reads:
2 Compare the malicious joke: 'Mr. Z claims to have found ...
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My scales has been accurate for the past year. I weigh something today. Should I assume that the measurement is accurate? If so, why?
My scales has been accurate for the past year. I weigh something today using my scales and it says that it weighs 1kg. Should I assume that the measurement is accurate? If so, why?
Here is the ...
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Help trying to update beliefs
You lose at cards. Suppose the chances that the other person was card counting, P, is 1/1000.
You lose at cards again. This time, the chances that this person was counting cards, B, is 1/100.
The ...
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Logical Analysis of Argument
Andrew: I think this country needs more scientists.
Britney: But if everyone were scientists, then we won't have any artists! And without artists, we might as well all be robots.
Is Britney's argument ...
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What kind of fallacy is in that situation?
What kind of fallacy is there in saying that it is improbable that people will do radical actions, (like becoming religious) if there isn't a bit of truth to it.
Could there be fallacies that were not ...
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Why doesn't acknowledging the barber's dual identity resolve the Barber Paradox?
The Barber Paradox is given as: "In a village, there is a male barber who shaves only those who do not shave themselves. The question is: Does the barber shave himself?".
But, here is the ...
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What's the official term for interpreting an ambiguous argument into the worst possible way?
I've come across a type of argument I hear often when discussing touchier subjects. I call it "The Worst Possible Interpretation Argument".
It goes like this — I say "I agree or support ...
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Is there such a thing as a Conflation Fallacy? Or something like it?
I commonly find this phenomenon when debating, where my statement is conflated with another similar statement or idea.
For example, if Person A. said "X is the highest grossing Horror movie of ...
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Why is infinite regress commonly discussed in the context of theology or metaphysics, when it implies a rather peculiar model of the universe?
I have witnessed infinite regress being used to "prove God as impossible" with the following objections:
If god is the creator, who created god?
If the universe needs to be intelligently ...
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What logical fallacy is made in this argument that seems to prove that learning is futile?
To learn is to gain more knowledge.
Having more knowledge means having more that one can forget.
∴, the more one learns, the more one forgets.
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Is there a set of fallacies attributable to statistics and probability
The interpretation and use of statistics and probability appears to contain a variety of fallacies that allow the misuse of these tools. Has anyone come across a list of fallacies specific to these ...
user64314
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Is it ever rational to stumble onto the conjunction fallacy in probability?
The conjunction fallacy is the phenomenon where many people believe that the probability of the event (A AND B) is strictly greater than the probability of the event A. It is usually thought of as an ...
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What is the basis of the sunk cost fallacy?
Is the so called sunk cost fallacy truly a total fallacy, or does it have some kernel of truth? Certainly it is a widespread instinctive/impulsive form of reasoning. Presumably it must then have had ...
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What kind of fallacy is it to say if abolition of something isn't possible, we shouldn't attempt to address it at all?
I'm trying to figure out the exact fallacy (or if it even is one) that takes the form:
If abolition of x isn't possible, we shouldn't attempt to address x.
I see this quite often from radical second ...
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Can the "Appeal to the Authority" fallacy also be used when the authority is negative/disliked, or is that a different fallacy?
I was discussing politics with an elderly relative in my life and they mentioned that a thing that was occurring in the modern day was socialism. Without getting into the specifics of the claim I ...
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Is this a fallacy: "A woman is an adult who identifies as female in gender"? [closed]
The phrase tries to avoid the overt circular definition found in the variant, "a woman is anyone who identifies as a woman", by swapping woman with female in gender. But is that still a ...
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Is there a name for when someone asserts something can't happen because it hasn't happened to them?
Recently on Twitter someone posted CCTV footage of a man leaving a launderette then one second later a drier explodes taking out the front of the building and the door he just left by, followed by ...
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What are the ethics of limiting another's agency in the name of protection?
What are the ethics, if any, of limiting another person's agency and personal freedom in the name of mutual protection?
Consider the following example:
Alice and Bob are partners and both adults.
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