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fallacy |
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fallacy, in logic, a term used to characterize an invalid argument. Strictly speaking, it refers only to the transition from a set of premises to a conclusion, and is distinguished from falsity, a value attributed to a single statement. The laws of syllogisms were systematically elaborated by Aristotle, and for an argument to be valid, it must adhere to all the laws; to be fallacious, it need only break one (see syllogism syllogism, a mode of argument that forms the core of the body of Western logical thought. Aristotle defined syllogistic logic, and his formulations were thought to be the final word in logic; they underwent only minor revisions in the subsequent 2,200 years. ..... Click the link for more information. ). The term fallacy has come to be used in a somewhat wider sense than the purely formal one. Informal fallacies are said to occur when statements are ambiguous or vague as to the logical form they represent, or when a multiplicity of meaning is present and the validity of the argument depends on switching meanings of a word or a phrase in midstream. fallacy Logic an error in reasoning that renders an argument logically invalid How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| Since the 1970s, however, the welfare industry has manoeuvered the public into acquiescing in a colossal expansion of the social welfare budget by building a massive structure of unexamined claims on a foundation of dubious premises and fallacious arguments. Supposedly, Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation and Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute "manufactured" a welfare crisis based on "shoddy statistics and fallacious arguments. If the enemies of civil justice had celebrated the millennium with a generous dose of truth serum, there might have been some explanation for recent revelations concerning the health of corporate America, which, to satisfy its own insatiable profit-seeking appetite, continues to promote utterly fallacious arguments on an array of tort "reform" bills in Congress. |
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