What fallacy is poisoning the well?
Poisoning the well (or attempting to poison the well) is a type of informal fallacy where adverse information about a target is preemptively presented to an audience, with the intention of discrediting or ridiculing something that the target person is about to say.
What is an example of ad hominem fallacy?
A classic example of ad hominem fallacy is given below: A: “All murderers are criminals, but a thief isn’t a murderer, and so can’t be a criminal.” B: “Well, you’re a thief and a criminal, so there goes your argument.”
What is poisoning the well and guilt by association?
Description: To commit a preemptive ad hominem (abusive) attack against an opponent. That is, to prime the audience with adverse information about the opponent from the start, in an attempt to make your claim more acceptable or discount the credibility of your opponent’s claim.
What is the fallacy of an ad hominem attack?
(Attacking the person): This fallacy occurs when, instead of addressing someone’s argument or position, you irrelevantly attack the person or some aspect of the person who is making the argument. The fallacious attack can also be direct to membership in a group or institution.
When is poisoning the well a logical fallacy?
Updated February 14, 2019. Poisoning the well is a logical fallacy (a type of ad hominem argument) in which a person attempts to place an opponent in a position from which he or she is unable to reply.
What’s the difference between poisoning the well and ad hominem?
Poisoning the well is presumptive rather than disruptive. It tries to frame future discussion in a negative light rather than disrupt an ongoing discussion by attacking the speaker. Poisoning the well is usually a communication to third-party listeners, were ad hominems are generally directed at the other speaker.
Can a poisoned well be considered an argument?
Poisoning the well can take the form of an (explicit or implied) argument, and is considered by some philosophers an informal fallacy. A poisoned-well “argument” has the following form:
Which is an example of poisoning the well?
Richard Nordquist is a freelance writer and former professor of English and Rhetoric who wrote college-level Grammar and Composition textbooks. Poisoning the well is a logical fallacy (a type of ad hominem argument) in which a person attempts to place an opponent in a position from which he or she is unable to reply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOBqQBYxLlQ
