Fallacies

Fallacies of Ambiguity

Fallacies of ambiguity are arguments that are unsound because they contain words that, either singly or in combination, can be understood in more than one sense.

When ambiguity is present in an argument, the argument is always weekend. In equivocation, ambiguity stems from the fact that the words used have more than one correct sense and could have various meanings depending upon their context. In amphiboly, we shall see that it is ambiguity of sentence structure that gives rise to the fallacy. In the case of accent, the ambiguity results from the use of a word or words that can properly refer to abstractions. In division and composition, the ambiguity lies in confusing the collective with the distributive sense of terms.

THE FALLACY OF EQUIVOCATION

To commit the fallacy of equivocation is to allow a key word in an argument to shift its meaning in the course of the argument.

The fallacy of equivocation is especially easy to commit when a key term in an argument happens to be a figure of speech or a metaphor.

• Fallacies of equivocation are arguments in which two different senses of a key word or phrase are confused. The word or phrase remains the same, but the meaning it carries shifts in the course of the statement or argument.

• More difficult are those cases in which the fallacy is used as a way of accusing us of a contradiction or inconsistency as in the example: “if you believe in the miracles of science, why not in the miracles of the Bible?”

• Our reply here should be: Since by “miracle of science” we mean the great achievements or accomplishments of science and not things defying the laws of nature ( as in the case of the “miracles of the Bible”), we are not being inconsistent in believing in the one and not in the other.

THE FALLACY OF AMPHIBOLY

The fallacy of amphiboly is the product of poor sentence structure. It results when words are incorrectly or loosely grouped in a sentence, giving rise...