paralogism

[puh-ral-uh-jiz-uhm]

noun

Logic.

1. argument violating principles of valid reasoning.

2. a conclusion reached through such argument.

paralogism

/ pəˈræləˌdʒɪzəm /

noun

1. logic psychol an argument that is unintentionally invalid Compare sophism

2. any invalid argument or conclusion

Other Word Forms

• paralogist noun
• paralogistic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of paralogism¹

1555–65; < Late Latin paralogismus < Greek paralogismós. See para- ¹, logo-, -ism

Word History and Origins

Origin of paralogism¹

C16: via Late Latin from Greek paralogismos, from paralogizesthai to argue fallaciously, from _para- ¹ + -logizesthai, ultimately from logos word

Example Sentences

Finally, according to this theory of Dr. T., he and all those who reason like him, are chargeable, I think, with a palpable paralogism they reason in a circle.

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The poets accept the existence of the gods from the common notion of men, and then treat all that relates to these deities in accordance with this system of paralogism.

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I certainly agree to all the rest with you, but Aristotle's law I think involves a paralogism, for by this argument the heavens should be immobile since they are in a place fitting their nature.

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As it is said by the author of the Nyáya-nirváṇa: The proof of the permanence of the transitory, as being both permanent and transitory, is a paralogism.

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On this dualistic basis, the ontological argument becomes a manifest paralogism, and lies open to all the objections that Kant brought against it.

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