A fallacy can be a deception that is perpetrated to harm an individual without the victim realizing it.
From the Latin fallacia , a fallacy is a lie or deception intended to harm a person without them realizing it. A person who discovers that he has been the victim of a fallacy may express, for example: "The fallacy of his job made me live deceived for many years," "Pablo is always with his fallacies, trying to defraud people."
Someone uses a fallacy to obtain something that they know they could not obtain otherwise than through the appeal to falsehood , generally their intention is not precisely to harm, but to obtain a benefit , but they are not concerned about hurting others to achieve what they do. what you want.
The fallacy in logic
In logic the concept is also used to refer to an argument that tries to defend something that is false. We will explain it better below.
According to the dictionary definition, logic is the science of thought , which allows us to analyze reasoning and determine whether or not it is correct. In any case, within this science there are various branches: fuzzy and constructive logic and within each one different currents.
Boolean logic is the best known and seems to be the only one considered by ordinary people, although it is important to keep in mind that it is not the only one that exists. Within this, a proposition is defined as those statements that can be true or false ; It is the essence of reasoning . It is important to note that the proposition does not refer to the way in which the sentence is conjugated but to its meaning, which does not vary even if the preposition is reformulated.
According to logic, a fallacy is an argument that seeks to defend what is false.
For example:
"There exists an even prime number greater than two" is the same preposition as "An even prime number greater than two exists," although the words are arranged differently. In any case, it is important that when reformulating a proposition its meaning is not changed, which is why it is so important to use the language correctly. For this reformulation, formal linguistics is usually used, which allows the statements to be analyzed and rewritten without changing their essential meaning .
Construction of deductive reasoning
With regard to fallacies, although constructing deductive reasoning may seem like a simple task, we often encounter very common errors, which lead us to conclude that a reasoning is not accurate at all . This technical defect in the way of presenting an argument is known as a fallacy .
Those reasonings that contain fallacies are known as fallacious and have the particularity that generally at first glance they seem valid and even convincing and only through an exhaustive analysis can we realize their "deception."
The fallacy, a sophism
In short, a fallacy is a sophism , an apparent refutation that is used to defend something false, exposing false premises as true. It is a reasoning that appears to be logical, but whose result is independent of the veracity of the premises.
The logical fallacy , therefore, involves an incorrect application of a valid logical principle. It can also be formed by the application of a non-existent principle.
An example of a fallacy is the following:
1. Emeralds are green
2. This ring is green.
3. Therefore, the ring is made of emeralds.
The two premises mentioned may be true, however, the conclusion is not necessarily true. The ring can be made of emeralds or another green material. In the first case, the conclusion would be true, but, in the second, we would be faced with a false conclusion.
Another example of fallacy, known as ad hominem , occurs when the person who makes a statement is disqualified in order to also disqualify his or her statements:
1. Martín claims that he saw how Pedro stole money.
2. Martin usually lies.
3. Therefore, Peter did not steal the money.
In these cases, the fallacy does not address the validity of the claim, but rather refutes the person making the claim.