Philosophy:Divine fallacy

From HandWiki

The divine fallacy is an informal fallacy that involves arguing for a conclusion on the grounds that it is unimaginable for it not to be true.

The name "divine fallacy" is due to its frequent use to argue that something must have a supernatural origin.[1] It is also known as an argument from incredulity, personal incredulity, or appeal to common sense. Arguments from incredulity can take the form:

  1. I cannot imagine how P could be true; therefore P must be false.
  2. I cannot imagine how P could be false; therefore P must be true.

Arguments from incredulity can sometimes arise from inappropriate emotional involvement, the conflation of fantasy and reality, a lack of understanding, or an instinctive 'gut' reaction, especially where time is scarce.

See also

References

  1. Sen, Madhucchanda (2011). An Introduction to Critical Thinking. Pearson Education India. ISBN 9788131734568. https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ4oVpKY_nwC&pg=PA63. Retrieved 2016-11-26.