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Equivocation in a syllogism (a chain of reasoning) produces a fallacy of four terms (quaternio terminorum). Below is an example: Since only man [human] is rational. And no woman is a man [male]. Therefore, no woman is rational. [1] The first instance of "man" implies the entire human species, while the second implies just those who are male.
Philosophy portal; Auto-antonym: A word that is encoded with opposing meanings. Absurdity; Excusable negligence: If a behavior is excusable, it is not negligence. Gödel's incompleteness theorems: and Tarski's undefinability theorem; Ignore all rules: To obey this rule, it is necessary to ignore it. Impossible object: A type of optical illusion.
This 1895 cartoon makes a slippery-slope argument of how weddings would look in 2001 if women got the right to vote.. In a slippery slope argument, a course of action is rejected because the slippery slope advocate believes it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends. [1]
Equivocation – using a term with more than one meaning in a statement without specifying which meaning is intended. [21] Ambiguous middle term – using a middle term with multiple meanings. [22] Definitional retreat – changing the meaning of a word when an objection is raised. [23]
In turn, material fallacies may be placed into the more general category of informal fallacies. Verbal fallacies may be placed in either formal or informal classifications: Compare equivocation, which is a word- or phrase-based ambiguity, to the fallacy of composition, which is premise- and inference-based ambiguity. [17]
Apples and oranges are both similar-sized seeded fruits that grow on trees, but that does not make the two interchangeable. A false equivalence or false equivalency is an informal fallacy in which an equivalence is drawn between two subjects based on flawed or false reasoning.
The problem of circular reasoning has been noted in Western philosophy at least as far back as the Pyrrhonist philosopher Agrippa who includes the problem of circular reasoning among his Five Tropes of Agrippa. The Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus described the problem of circular reasoning as "the reciprocal trope":
adiaphora ἀδιάφορα: indifferent things, neither good nor bad. agathos ἀγαθός: good, proper object of desire. anthrôpos ἄνθρωπος: human being, used by Epictetus to express an ethical ideal.