Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The following example demonstrates why this line of reasoning is a logical fallacy: I've seen a person shoot someone dead. Therefore, all people are murderers. In the common discourse, a proof by example can also be used to describe an attempt to establish a claim using statistically insignificant examples. In which case, the merit of each ...
In mathematics, certain kinds of mistaken proof are often exhibited, and sometimes collected, as illustrations of a concept called mathematical fallacy.There is a distinction between a simple mistake and a mathematical fallacy in a proof, in that a mistake in a proof leads to an invalid proof while in the best-known examples of mathematical fallacies there is some element of concealment or ...
Nirvana fallacy (perfect-solution fallacy) – solutions to problems are rejected because they are not perfect. Package deal – treating essentially dissimilar concepts as though they were essentially similar. Prevalent proof fallacy – Using consensus or majority vote as evidence of truthfulness, often without regard for expert opinion.
For example, a Fourier series of sine and cosine functions, all continuous, may converge pointwise to a discontinuous function such as a step function. Carmichael's totient function conjecture was stated as a theorem by Robert Daniel Carmichael in 1907, but in 1922 he pointed out that his proof was incomplete. As of 2016 the problem is still open.
When referring to a generalization made from a single example, the terms fallacy of the lonely fact, [8] or the fallacy of proof by example, might be used. [9] When evidence is intentionally excluded to bias the result, the fallacy of exclusion—a form of selection bias—is said to be involved. [10]
All that is left is the assertion that the argument is true, and it is thus the proof by assertion fallacy. The Cherry-Picking fallacy can occur within the Anecdotal fallacy if an example is used but it is not representative of the average occurrence of such a thing. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc is another fallacy that is often paired with anecdotes.
John Locke (1632–1704), the likely originator of the term.. Argument from ignorance (Latin: argumentum ad ignorantiam), or appeal to ignorance, [a] is an informal fallacy where something is claimed to be true or false because of a lack of evidence to the contrary.
Circular reasoning (Latin: circulus in probando, "circle in proving"; [1] also known as circular logic) is a logical fallacy in which the reasoner begins with what they are trying to end with. [2] Circular reasoning is not a formal logical fallacy, but a pragmatic defect in an argument whereby the premises are just as much in need of proof or ...