Appeal to pity
An appeal to pity is a logical fallacy that occurs when something is claimed to be true because (a) it is saddening or (b) its falsity would cause sadness. Its inverse is the appeal to hate.
So sad.
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It is an emotional appeal and an informal fallacy.
Alternate names
- argumentum ad misericordiam
- appeal to sympathy
- Galileo argument (not to be confused with Galileo gambit)
Form
If overlaying some text on a sad puppy image:
- P1: X is asserted in the context of sad situation Y.
- P2: (unstated) Anything asserted in a sad context is true.
- C: X is true.
If someone tearfully demands a better grade:
- P1: X is asserted by a person in sad situation Y.
- P2: (unstated) Anything asserted by a person in sad situation is true.
- C: X is true.
Explanation
Just because something is sad does not mean that it is more or less true.
Examples
- I couldn't afford to go to college, and I can't understand those fancy arguments you're using. But I've read my Bible, and it'd break my heart if it wasn't true.
- Bob was an orphan, raised by a stepfather who had to work menial jobs all day to make ends meet.
- I know Scruffles has rabies, slaughters other pets, and destroys furniture, but I love him and you can't take him away!
- Officer, you can't give me a traffic ticket for running a red light: I'm going to the hospital to see my wife in critical condition to tell her I lost my job, the house burned down, and the car will be repossessed.
gollark: I guess they didn't know about pcall.
gollark: I mean, it isn't actually asynchronous, but they use the event-driven way of using HTTP...
gollark: Your "edit function" I mean.
gollark: It sends a request to a URL, but appears to do it in a weird async way.
gollark: With autoupdate, so if you break one thing you have five minutes or so to fix it before everything updates. It really increases the sense of drama.
See also
- Appeal to money
- Appeal to pride
- Appeal to shame
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External links
- See the Wikipedia article on Appeal to pity.
- APPEAL TO PITY, Logically Fallacious
- Appeal to Pity (Argumentum ad Misercordiam), Atheism/Agnosticism About.com
- Fallacy: Appeal to Pity, Nizkor Project
- Appeal to Pity (the Galileo Argument), Charles McGlothlin
- Argumentum ad Misericordiam, philosophy.lander.edu
- APPEAL TO PITY, Truly Fallacious
- Appeal to Pity, Changing Minds
- Appeal to Pity, LogicalFallacies.info
- Appeal to Pity, Hebrew for Christians
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