Argumentum ad martyrdom

	Cogito ergo sum; Logic and rhetoric
	Key articles
	Logical fallacy; Syllogism; Argument;
	General logic
	Denying the antecedent; Pragmatic fallacy; Creationist escape hatch; Credentialism; Professor of nothing; Retórica;
	Bad logic
	Slippery slope; Appeal to novelty; Intuition pump; Moving the goalposts; Appeal to bias; Not all; v - t - e

“”But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

—Carl Sagan^[1]

Argumentum ad martyrdom is a pseudo-Latin term used for two different logical fallacies favoured by some Christians:

That a belief becomes true if the person asserting it is hated for it.
That martyrdom is evidence for the truth of a proposition as martyrs would not die for nothing.

Galileo gambit variation

“”Argumentum ad martyrdom — I perceive that they don't like me, therefore I am correct.

—Tinker Grey^[2]

This version typically stems from a belief that the message being conveyed is one that makes people hostile because of its truth. This usage was originally coined by "Tinker Grey", a secular member of Christian Forums^[3] who saw that refuting an argument of a member who was under the impression that other members hated them resulted in a bolstering of their confidence in their refuted argument.

The argument is reportedly popular with Christians as the Bible says to expect persecution for your beliefs, and that persecution indicates you are right (e.g., Matthew 5:11-12):

“”Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

(And lots more.^[4])

Personal certainty

This usage is the argument that Christianity (or, for that matter Islam^[5] or whatever) is true because people would not martyr themselves for it if it were false, sometimes presented in the rhymed statement that martyrs wouldn't "die for a lie". Thus, the martyrs' assumed personal certainty is being advanced as evidence for a proposition.

This usage precedes the "Galileo gambit" usage^{[note 1]} and in Christianity it goes back to the 2^nd/3^rd century Church father Tertullian who claimed that "the blood of the martyrs is seed", i.e. that the examples of martyrs dying for the Christian faith would convince others that Christians must be on to something that good.^[7] Tertullian also spawned the branch of history known as Christian martyrology.^[8]

Argument from personal certainty is trivially false: throughout history, many people have died in the service of provable lies. More generally, if you consider the number of people who died for mutually contradictory ideas (e.g. from different religions or over doctrinal disputes), it is likely that most people who died for an idea were actually wrong. As this is a common argument, detailed refutations have been compiled.^[9]

Notes

↑ "And, once again, we find a Biblical prophesy fullfilled in our lifetime — the Bible clearly predicts that the day will come when those who profess a belief in Jesus Christ will be persecuted and ridiculed." by SensibleSam^[6]

References

↑ http://www.srmhp.org/archives/quotes-pseudoscience.html
↑ Argumentum ad martyrdom — I perceive that they don't like me, therefore I am correct. by Tinker Grey (24^th November 2009, 01:25 PM) Christian Forums (archived from April 14, 2015).
↑ Christian Forums
↑ All That Will Live Godly in Christ Jesus Shall Suffer Persecution Topical Bible Studies (archived from May 23, 2019).
↑ Dying for God: Martyrdom in the Shii and Babi Religions by Jonah Winters (1997) Master of Arts thesis, University of Toronto via Bahá'í Library (archived from May 22, 2019).
↑ Re: Article Discussion: Theater protest set by activists for gay by jimhinco (December 11^th, 2008, 5:13 pm) #598987 Denver Post (archived from (April 14, 2015).
↑ Tertullian, Apologeticus, ch. 50.
↑ Rediscovering the Martyrology by George Weigel (2.26.14) First Things.
↑ Would someone die for what they knew was a lie? Religions Wiki.

[7] "And, once again, we find a Biblical prophesy fullfilled in our lifetime — the Bible clearly predicts that the day will come when those who profess a belief in Jesus Christ will be persecuted and ridiculed." by SensibleSam^[6]

[1] ttp://www.srmhp.org/archives/quotes-pseudoscience.html

[2] Argumentum ad martyrdom — I perceive that they don't like me, therefore I am correct. by Tinker Grey (24^th November 2009, 01:25 PM) Christian Forums (archived from April 14, 2015).

[3] Christian Forums

[4] All That Will Live Godly in Christ Jesus Shall Suffer Persecution Topical Bible Studies (archived from May 23, 2019).

[5] Dying for God: Martyrdom in the Shii and Babi Religions by Jonah Winters (1997) Master of Arts thesis, University of Toronto via Bahá'í Library (archived from May 22, 2019).

[6] Re: Article Discussion: Theater protest set by activists for gay by jimhinco (December 11^th, 2008, 5:13 pm) #598987 Denver Post (archived from (April 14, 2015).

[8] Tertullian, Apologeticus, ch. 50.

[9] Rediscovering the Martyrology by George Weigel (2.26.14) First Things.

[10] Would someone die for what they knew was a lie? Religions Wiki.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[note 1]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[6]

v - t - e Articles about logical fallacies
Informal fallacies:			Appeal to tradition • Appeal to novelty • Appeal to nature • Argument from morality • Big words • Certum est quia impossibile est • Morton's fork • Friend argument • Exception that proves the rule • Extended analogy • Hindsight bias • Race card • Moralistic fallacy • Release the data • Gish Gallop • Terrorism-baiting • Uncertainty tactic • Greece-baiting • Ham Hightail • Red-baiting • Gore's Law • Nazi analogies • Mistaking the map for the territory • Red herring • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur • Presentism • Sunk cost • Two wrongs make a right • Flying carpet fallacy • My enemy's enemy • Appeal to ancient wisdom • Danth's Law • Argumentum ad lunam • Balance fallacy • Golden hammer • Loaded question • Escape to the future • Word magic • Spider-Man fallacy • Sanctioning the devil • Appeal to mystery • Informal fallacy • Common sense • Post-designation • Hyperbole • Relativist fallacy • Due diligence • Straw man • Good old days • Appeal to probability • Infinite regress • Circular reasoning • Media was wrong before • Is–ought problem • Ad iram • Just asking questions • Pink-baiting • Appeal to faith • Appeal to fear • Appeal to bias • Appeal to confidence • Appeal to consequences • Appeal to emotion • Appeal to flattery • Appeal to gravity • Appeal to hate • Argument from omniscience • Argument from silence • Argumentum ad baculum • Argumentum ad fastidium • Association fallacy • Broken window fallacy • Category mistake • Confounding factor • Counterfactual fallacy • Courtier's Reply • Damning with faint praise • Definitional fallacies • Equivocation • Fallacy of accent • Fallacy of accident • Fallacy of amphiboly • Gambler's fallacy • Imprecision fallacy • Moving the goalposts • Nirvana fallacy • Overprecision • Pathos gambit • Pragmatic fallacy • Quote mining • Argumentum ad sarcina inserta • Science doesn't know everything • Slothful induction • Spotlight fallacy • Style over substance • Toupee fallacy • Genuine but insignificant cause • Argument from incredulity • Appeal to age • Argumentum ad nauseam • Phantom distinction • Appeal to common sense • Argumentum ad hysteria • Omnipotence paradox • Argument from etymology • Appeal to trauma • Countless counterfeits fallacy •
	Ad hoc:		No True Scotsman • Moving the goalposts • Escape hatch • Handwave • Special pleading • Slothful induction • Nirvana fallacy • God of the gaps • PIDOOMA • Ad hoc • Tone argument •
	Arguments from ignorance:		Science doesn't know everything • Argument from incredulity • Argument from silence • Toupee fallacy • Appeal to censorship • Science was wrong before • Holmesian fallacy • Argument from omniscience • Willful ignorance • Argument from ignorance •
	Causation fallacies:		Post hoc, ergo propter hoc • Correlation does not imply causation • Wrong direction • Counterfactual fallacy • Regression fallacy • Gambler's fallacy • Denying the antecedent • Genuine but insignificant cause •
	Circular reasoning:		Infinite regress • Argument by assertion • Argumentum ad dictionarium • Appeal to faith • Circular reasoning • Self-refuting idea •
	Emotional appeals:		Appeal to fear • Appeal to emotion • Appeal to confidence • Deepity • Argumentum ad baculum • Appeal to shame • Appeal to flattery • Tone argument • Appeal to money • Argumentum ad fastidium • Appeal to gravity • Appeal to consequences • Loaded language • Style over substance • Appeal to pity • Appeal to hate • Pathos gambit • Shaming • Degenerate • Abomination •
	Fallacies of ambiguity:		Fallacy of accent • Equivocation • Fallacy of amphiboly • Quote mining • Fallacy of ambiguity • Moral equivalence • Scope fallacy • Suppressed correlative • Not as bad as • Etymology • Continuum fallacy • Wronger than wrong • Definitional fallacies • Code word • Phantom distinction •
Formal fallacies:			Confusion of the inverse • Denying the antecedent • Non sequitur • Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise • Not even wrong • Chewbacca Defense • Affirming a disjunct • Illicit process • Four-term fallacy • Negative conclusion from affirmative premises • Fallacy fallacy • Substituting explanation for premise • Enthymeme • Syllogism • Formal fallacy • Existential assumption • Masked man fallacy • Self-refuting idea • Argument by gibberish • One single proof • Affirming the consequent • False dilemma • Conjunction fallacy •
Fallacious arguments:			Bumblebee argument • Fatwa envy • Gotcha argument • Hoyle's fallacy • Intuition pump • Logic and Creation • Not Circular Reasoning • Peanut butter argument • Great Beethoven fallacy • Fallacy of unique founding conditions • Evil is the absence of God • Argument from first cause • How do you know? Were you there? • Argument from design • Argument from beauty • Appeal to nature • Solferino fallacy • Religious scientists • Nothing to hide • Argument from fine tuning • Creep shaming • "I used to be an atheist" • Atheism as a religion • Argumentum ad populum • Argument from morality • Anti-environmentalism • Appeal to bias • Apophasis • Argumentum ad nauseam • Appeal to censorship • Argumentum ad sarcina inserta • Blaming the victim • Bait-and-switch • Danth's Law • Chewbacca Defense • Canard • DARVO • Demonization • Escape hatch • Friend argument • Everyone is racist • Gish Gallop • Greece-baiting • Gore's Law • Ham Hightail • Just asking questions • Leading question • Loaded language • Linking to authority • Loaded question • Lying by omission • Motte and bailey • Nazi analogies • Moving the goalposts • One single proof • Pink-baiting • One-way hash argument • Pathos gambit • Quote mining • Poisoning the well • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur • Race card • Red-baiting • Red herring • Release the data • Science was wrong before • Shill gambit • Straw man • Silent Majority • Uncertainty tactic • Style over substance • Terrorism-baiting • Weasel word • What's the harm (logical fallacy) • Whataboutism • Bullshit • Logical fallacy • Banana argument • Scapegoat • How come there are still monkeys? • Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white • Ontological argument • Omnipotence paradox • Presuppositionalism • Just a joke • Countless counterfeits fallacy •
Conditional fallacies:			Slippery slope • What's the harm (logical fallacy) • Special pleading • Conditional fallacy • On the spot fallacy • Appeal to the minority • Argumentum ad populum • Galileo gambit • Professor of nothing •
	Genetic fallacies:		Genetic fallacy •
		Appeals to authority:	Ipse dixit • Appeal to confidence • Argumentum ad populum • Argument from authority • Linking to authority • Silent Majority • Invincible authority • Appeal to celebrity • Ultracrepidarianism • Appeal to the minority • Galileo gambit • Appeal to identity • Weasel word • Professor of nothing • Euthyphro dilemma • Divine command theory •
		Ad hominem:	Ad iram • Argumentum ad cellarium • Bulverism • Poisoning the well • Blaming the victim • Tu quoque • Whataboutism • Nutpicking • Jonanism • Demonization • Shill gambit • Appeal to bias • Fallacy of opposition • Association fallacy • Damning with faint praise • Pathos gambit • Appeal to identity • Argumentum ad hominem • Nazi analogies • Not an argument • Nothing to hide • Scapegoat • 地下室论证 •
	Imprecision fallacies:		Apex fallacy • Overprecision • Cherry picking • Overgeneralization • Texas sharpshooter fallacy • False analogy • Appeal to fiction • Spotlight fallacy • Pragmatic fallacy • Selection bias • Anecdotal evidence • Category mistake • Nutpicking • Imprecision fallacy • Confounding factor • Fallacy of accident • Neyman's bias •
Valid logical methods:			Rapoport's Rules • Negative evidence • Reductio ad absurdum •
Fallacy collections:			SeekFind • Nizkor Project • Fallacy Files • Your Logical Fallacy Is • Logically Fallacious •

Argumentum ad martyrdom

Contents

Galileo gambit variation

Personal certainty

See also

Notes

References

Navigation menu

Search