Fallacy of ambiguity

A fallacy of ambiguity occurs when a conclusion is drawn from premises that are unclear. When an unclear premise is used, it may not support the conclusion.

Cogito ergo sum
Logic and rhetoric
Key articles
General logic
Bad logic
v - t - e
“”Claim X is made. Y is concluded based on an ambiguous understanding of X.
—Logically Fallacious[1]

Alternate names

Several names exist, including:[1]

  • Vagueness
  • Amphiboly
  • Semantical ambiguity
  • Type-token ambiguity

Form

In essence, the fallacy involves two steps:[2]

  1. Premises are presented that are unclear enough to allow for more than one conclusion.
  2. A single conclusion is drawn from these premises.

Examples

Here are two examples:[1]

P. It is said that we have a good understanding of our universe.
C. Therefore, we know exactly how it began and exactly when.

P. All living beings come from other living beings.
C1. Therefore, the first forms of life must have come from a living being.
C2. That living being is God.

Types
  • Fallacy of accent, where the stress or a word or words is unclear and makes the meaning unclear
  • Fallacy of amphiboly, where grammatical uncertainty makes the meaning of a sentence unclear
  • Equivocation, where one word has two or more separate meanings that are switched between in the course of a sentence
  • Quote mining, where context is removed to make a point (which the context may disprove, downplay, or explain)
  • Phantom distinction, where two functionally synonymous terms are treated as separate
  • Moral equivalence, where two distinct moral/immoral ideas are treated as the equally moral/immoral
  • Wronger than wrong, where two partially false ideas are treated as equally false
gollark: We can also erase knowledge of Norway. This will obviate the problems.
gollark: You can't stop us.
gollark: Orbital lasers standing by.
gollark: This is why you cannot trust things to infer types ever under any circumstances.
gollark: It is utter apiaries.

See also

References
  1. https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/17/Ambiguity-Fallacy
  2. https://aphilosopher.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/30-more-fallacies/
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