I conclude this series on logical fallacies with poisoning the well, a logical fallacy akin to the ad hominem argument (see July 15 posting). At the risk of appearing redundant, I’ve included it because the term frequently appears in writing. One “poisons the well” when discrediting the source of a claim with the intention of refuting the claim itself. Example:
How can we allow allow a man of another faith to speak to our congregation on family values?
If you’ve found these last 20 postings useful, you might want to read Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies by Robert J. Gula.
To purchase your copy of The Art of On-the-Job Writing by Philip Vassallo, click here: http://firstbooks.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=144
-
A participant in one of my workshops, D. Hom, asked a question about hyphenating expressions such as “end of year.” Determining what to h...
-
It's a good thing that the hyphen is not a frequently used punctuation mark because most people don't know how to use it. The hyp... -
READER QUESTION Which of the following sentences is correct? The contract was signed by Lee, Sam, and me . The contract was ...