Appeal to gravity

	Cogito ergo sum; Logic and rhetoric
	Key articles
	Logical fallacy; Syllogism; Argument;
	General logic
	Argumentum ad hominem (français); Argumentum ad package insert; Confounding factor; Confusion of the inverse; Poisoning the well; Ultimate end;
	Bad logic
	Argumentum ad fastidium; Confusion of the inverse; Friend argument; Golden hammer; Negative conclusion from affirmative premises; Professor of nothing; v - t - e

An appeal to gravity is a logical fallacy that occurs if the supposed importance (big impact) or seriousness of a situation makes someone's viewpoint stronger.

The fallacy is an emotional appeal and an informal fallacy.

Form

If discussing someone's ideas:

P1: X asserts Y, but not in a serious way.

P2: (unstated) All statements not asserted seriously are false.

C: Y is false.

Explanation

The importance of a decision does not make any one choice of action any better or worse, and the seriousness of a choice of action does not change whether it actually solves a problem.

Appeals to gravity will usually be the person with the serious proposal (which can be just as laughable as the less serious proposals), the person seeking "balance between extremes" (who may manage to find the midpoint between two working solutions), the person "who wants to keep things civil" (and ignore ideas that aren't), or the person who finds some ideas ridiculous. This is because it's easier to criticize how other people discuss the issues than how they solve the issues.

In some cases, addressing issues with relative levity, particularly humor, encourages knowledge, awareness, and discussion of the issue to reach a wider audience (for instance, panel/talk shows and news satire on television). That said however, sometimes not taking things seriously can hurt discourse by making issues seem more or less important than they actually are.

gollark: Technically yes but please don't.

gollark: ```lualocal f = fs.open(file, "r")-- do stuff with thislocal content = f.readAll()f.close()```

gollark: About what?

gollark: So if I come up with the genius idea of a compact ore processing system by putting a pulverizer and redstone furnace next to each other, I can patent that?

gollark: Your server will just let you patent *anything*?

External links

Appeal to Gravity, Bruce Thompson
Logical Fallacy of Appeal to Gravity, SeekFind.net

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Appeal to gravity

Form

Explanation

See also

External links