Equivocation
From RationalWiki
Revision as of 02:12, 20 May 2012 by 99.147.150.41 (Talk)
| Part of the series on |
| Key articles |
| General logic |
| Bad logic |
Equivocation is a logical fallacy that relies on the different meanings a word can have in different contexts. It is a favorite fallacy of creationist and woo hucksters alike. It can be used both to seemingly belittle a concept or idea, or to raise one up to false pretenses. It can be used to disguise bullshit like in quantum woo where people like Deepak Chopra use equivocation to make their ideas sound like they have some basis in reality.
Examples
- "Because it's called the 'theory of evolution,' evolution is an unproven assumption."
- "You have faith in science, and I have faith in God."
- "Because the word 'Nazi' is short for 'National Socialism,' socialists are Nazis."
- "The Theory of Relativity is immoral because it promotes Moral Relativism."
- "Since Evolutionism is based on the work of Darwin, Evolutionists are in favor of Social Darwinism.
See also
| Articles about logical fallacies | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formal fallacies | |||||
| Affirming the consequent | Denying the antecedent | ||||
| Informal fallacies | |||||
|
Equivocation |
|||||
| Red herrings | |||||
| Conditional fallacies | |||||
| Fallacious argument styles | |||||