paralogism

American  

[puh-ral-uh-jiz-uhm] / pəˈræl əˌdʒɪz əm /

noun

Logic.

1. argument violating principles of valid reasoning.

2. a conclusion reached through such argument.

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paralogism British  

/ pəˈræləˌdʒɪzəm /

noun

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

2. any invalid argument or conclusion

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Other Word Forms

• paralogist noun
• paralogistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of paralogism

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

Explanation

A paralogism is an unintentionally misleading argument. Even if your friend has convinced himself it's true, you'll still be frustrated by his paralogism, "I never wash my hands because germs are actually good for you!" The Greek root of paralogism is paralogismos, "reason falsely," and it's where people end up when they base a belief or statement on false reasoning. It's mainly used in rhetoric and philosophy for a fallacy the speaker believes is true, rather than one deliberately meant to deceive someone. It's a paralogism to conclude that because your plane flight went smoothly when you wore your lucky socks, you won't be safe on airplanes without them.

Example Sentences

This is a mere paralogism; we can never infer either absolute or infinite from relative or finite.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various

The paralogism really lies in the assumption from which Hume deduced his theory, namely, that every idea is a copy of some impression.

From Logic, Inductive and Deductive by Minto, William

This dialectical argument I shall call the transcendental paralogism.

From The Critique of Pure Reason by Meiklejohn, John Miller Dow

The two senses of the word "correlation" must be carefully distinguished; it would be a downright paralogism to adopt one of them in the premisses of the reasoning, and the other in the conclusion.

From Creative Evolution by Mitchell, Arthur

But even that pleasing paralogism did not suffice for the appetite of tariffism in the way of fallacy.

From Essays in Liberalism Being the Lectures and Papers Which Were Delivered at the Liberal Summer School at Oxford, 1922 by Various