Genetic fallacy

	Cogito ergo sum; Logic and rhetoric
	Key articles
	Logical fallacy; Syllogism; Argument;
	General logic
	Boolean algebra; Quod erat demonstrandum; Overprecision; Fallacy of opposition; Broken window fallacy; Ad hoc;
	Bad logic
	Circular reasoning; Ultracrepidarianism; Appeal to faith; Canard (português); Neyman's bias; گزاره‌ی صاحب‌نظر; v - t - e

A genetic fallacy is a logical fallacy that occurs when a claim is accepted or rejected based on the irrelevant source of the evidence, rather than on the quality or applicability of the evidence.^[1] It is also a line of reasoning in which a perceived defect in the origin of a claim or thing is taken to be evidence that discredits the claim or thing itself. The fallacy is committed when an idea is either accepted or rejected because of its source, rather than its merit.

Form[edit]

Most common:

P1: X said Y is true.

P2: X is a good/bad source.

C: Y is not necessarily false/true.

Less common (except on the Internet, where it is more common):

P1: X said Y is true.

P2: X is a good/bad source.

C: Y is true/false.

"Second-option bias" form:

P1: X said Y is true.

P2: X is a bad source.

C: Anti-Y is true.

Claim-maker is smart/intellectual:

P1: X said Y is true.

P2: X is an intellectual/is smart.

C: Y is true.

This obviously ignores the possibility that X is abusing his intellect to lie.

Exceptions[edit]

Bayesian[edit]

The genetic fallacy is a logical fallacy but is frequently not a Bayesian one: some sources are so consistently full of it that pointing this out reasonably constitutes a refutation for all practical purposes (e.g., Scopie's law). If something is bullshit 99.9% of the time, it may not be worth investigating — especially when there are more trustworthy sources or pressing issues available.

Example: If Andrew Wakefield were to write a paper on anything, it can be easily dismissed.

Extreme distortion of reality[edit]

“”You just can’t argue with those who think Nazis or apartheiders were left-wing progressives. They have no interest in discussion or debate. If you try anyway, they will kick you out of your own spaces and denounce you as a Cultural Marxist.

—

—Brendan Rizzo^[2]

This exception mostly only can apply to Holocaust deniers and Stalin apologists. To deny the Holocaust or Stalin's purges requires dismissing overwhelming proof in favor of personal ideology, such that everything a Holocaust denier or tankie would say is probably filtered through a completely distorted view of reality. Someone believing in multiple conspiracy theories or a unified conspiracy theory is also likely to have a completely distorted view of reality.

Being "pro-life", an anti-vaxxer, member of PETA or global warming denialist, or even someone on the alt-right who isn't a Holocaust denier, is not grounds for dismissing that person out of hand for having an extremely distorted view on reality. It’s important to avoid doing so anyway, because fundamentalists use precisely the same reasoning to dismiss any argument by those outside their religion, since they believe the truth of their religion is self-evident and obvious to everyone. Overuse of this exception can lead one into the fallacy of opposition.

Examples[edit]

Aristotle[edit]

P1: Aristotle believed that Empedocles's idea of "survival of the fittest" was wrong.

P2: Aristotle was right on a ton of other stuff and is a really important thinker in the history philosophical thought.

C: Aristotle is right on this too.

David Icke[edit]

P1: David Icke believes that the Earth is flat.

P2: David Icke is a grade-A crank and pioneer of the International Reptilain Conspiracy and is completely insane.

C: Flat Earth is incorrect.

Miscellaneous[edit]

"I was brought up to believe in a god, my parents told me a god exists, and my parents would never lie to me, so this god must exist."
"Sure, the media claims that Senator Wales was watching pornography, but we all know about the media's credibility, don't we?"

Comic[edit]

"The thing you said made me feel bad, so I don't think it's true and I don't think you're a nice person."
The firefighter sighed and raised the megaphone to her mouth. "Sir, you probably feel bad because you're inhaling a lot of smoke. Your house is on fire and you need to come to the window and go down the ladder with me now."
But the homeowner knew in his heart that he was a good person and a smart person and the kind of person who would never accidentally leave the stove on and drop a handtowel onto the burner. That just wasn't in character for him.^[3]

External links[edit]

The Genetic Fallacy, Fallacy Files
Genetic, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Genetic Fallacy, Atheism/Agnosticism About.com
Your logical fallacy is genetic, YLFI

References[edit]

↑ https://iep.utm.edu/fallacy/#Genetic
↑ This is a parody of a claim made in the comments section of the video [“Tolkien on Politics”], in which one commenter used very similar logic to argue that progressives are all irrational SJWs. A different comment went so far as to literally claim that apartheid is a progressive ideology solely because both demand radical changes to society, despite such logic being equivalent to “Apples are fruit. Bananas are fruit. Therefore apples are bananas.”
↑ http://www.crustaceansingles.com/2016/02/cant-fool-me.html

[1] ttps://iep.utm.edu/fallacy/#Genetic

[2] This is a parody of a claim made in the comments section of the video [“Tolkien on Politics”], in which one commenter used very similar logic to argue that progressives are all irrational SJWs. A different comment went so far as to literally claim that apartheid is a progressive ideology solely because both demand radical changes to society, despite such logic being equivalent to “Apples are fruit. Bananas are fruit. Therefore apples are bananas.”

[3] ttp://www.crustaceansingles.com/2016/02/cant-fool-me.html

[1]

[2]

[3]

v - t - e Articles about logical fallacies
Informal fallacies:			Appeal to tradition • Appeal to novelty • Appeal to nature • Argument from morality • Argumentum ad martyrdom • 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:
		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 •

Genetic fallacy

Contents

Form[edit]

Exceptions[edit]

Bayesian[edit]

Extreme distortion of reality[edit]

Examples[edit]

Aristotle[edit]

David Icke[edit]

Miscellaneous[edit]

Comic[edit]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

Navigation menu

Search