Certainty, Fallacies of
Certainty—confidence in a material truth beyond reasonable doubt—is not itself a fallacy. A fallacy does occur, however, when certainty takes the form of:
1. defence of a position, by all means, logical and otherwise; or
2. insistence that the other person’s proposition has to be certain and proven beyond any conceivable challenge, before it can be accepted as relevant. Example: “It was the excellent music teaching she had at home and at school that made it possible for her to become a professional pianist.” “You see, you simply don’t know that: she might have taught herself on the piano at the Youth Club.”
Related entries:
Precautionary Principle, Bad Faith, Self-Deception, Disingenuousness.
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