Fallacies of Ambiguity

Fallacies of ambiguity arise from ambiguities or vagueness in language.

1. Equivocation

In equivocation, a word or term is used with different meanings as if it had the same meaning.

Example: "Only man has rights. Women are not men. Therefore women have no rights."

Why is this flawed? The word "man" is first used in the sense of "human being", then it is implicitly switched to "male human being".

2. Amphiboly

Amphiboly arises from grammatical ambiguity that can lead to different interpretations.

Example: "Elephant hunting is immoral and should be banned." Why is this ambiguous? It is unclear whether this means that elephants should not be hunted, or that elephants should not hunt.

3. Accent

This fallacy arises from incorrect stress or emphasis that changes the meaning of a statement.

Example: "We should not speak badly about our colleagues." (Depending on which word is stressed, the meaning changes.)

4. Composition

In the fallacy of composition, it is wrongly assumed that a property of the parts must also be a property of the whole.

Example: "Every part of this computer is light. Therefore the computer is light."

Why is this flawed? The property "light" of the individual parts does not necessarily transfer to the whole.

Brain example "The neurons are not visible to the naked eye, so the brain is not visible to the naked eye."

5. Division

The fallacy of division is the opposite of the fallacy of composition: it is wrongly assumed that a property of the whole must also be a property of each part.

Example: "Germany is a rich country. Therefore every German is rich."

Why is this flawed? The property "rich" of the country as a whole does not necessarily transfer to each individual citizen.

Brain example "The brain can think, so the neurons can think."