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margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #009761; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#009761"><b>Cogito ergo sum</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Logic" title="Logic"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Logic and rhetoric</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#FFFFFF;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Logic" title="Category:Logic"><img alt="Icon logic.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/9/99/Icon_logic.svg/100px-Icon_logic.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/9/99/Icon_logic.svg/150px-Icon_logic.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/9/99/Icon_logic.svg/200px-Icon_logic.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="200" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#009761; text-align:center;"><b>Key articles</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#FFFFFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Logical_fallacy" title="Logical fallacy">Logical fallacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Syllogism" title="Syllogism">Syllogism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument" title="Argument">Argument</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#009761; text-align:center;"><b>General logic</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#FFFFFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Association_fallacy" title="Association fallacy">Association fallacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paraconsistent_logic" title="Paraconsistent logic">Paraconsistent logic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_fear" title="Appeal to fear">Appeal to fear</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/On_the_spot_fallacy" title="On the spot fallacy">On the spot fallacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vi%C3%A9s_de_sobreviv%C3%AAncia" title="Viés de sobrevivência">Viés de sobrevivência</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fallibilism" title="Fallibilism">Fallibilism</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#009761; text-align:center;"><b>Bad logic</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#FFFFFF;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/No_True_Scotsman" title="No True Scotsman">No True Scotsman</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Blaming_the_victim" title="Blaming the victim">Blaming the victim</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Argument_from_silence" title="Argument from silence">Argument from silence</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scope_fallacy" title="Scope fallacy">Scope fallacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/PIDOOMA" title="PIDOOMA">PIDOOMA</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Phantom_distinction" title="Phantom distinction">Phantom distinction</a></li></ul> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Logicnav" title="Template:Logicnav">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Logicnav" title="Template talk:Logicnav">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Logicnav&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>Science is a liar sometimes!</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—Mac, from <i>Always Sunny</i> <sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The phrase "<b>science was wrong before</b>" (or variations thereof, such as "<b>science has been wrong in the past</b>", "<b>science is only human</b>", "<b>science keeps changing</b>", or "<b>science is not infallible</b>") is a fallacious technique used in order to reject or disparage a current <a href="/wiki/Scientific_consensus" title="Scientific consensus">scientific consensus</a>, especially on topics such as <a href="/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">evolution</a> or <a href="/wiki/Global_warming" class="mw-redirect" title="Global warming">global warming</a>. It usually works like this: </p> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span><b>Alice:</b> A scientific consensus has built around <a href="/wiki/Theory" title="Theory">theory</a> X and it is supported by many lines of robust <a href="/wiki/Evidence" title="Evidence">evidence</a>.<br /> <b>Bob:</b> Ah, but <a href="/wiki/Science" title="Science">science</a> has been wrong before. Like bloodletting. So how can you be sure it's right this time?</div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> <p>The "science was wrong before" gambit exemplifies both the <a href="/wiki/Continuum_fallacy" title="Continuum fallacy">continuum fallacy</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy" title="Nirvana fallacy">nirvana fallacy</a>. It is a sister-fallacy to "<a href="/wiki/Media_was_wrong_before" title="Media was wrong before">media was wrong before</a>". </p> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Flaws"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Flaws</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2"><a href="#Missing_the_point"><span class="tocnumber">1.1</span> <span class="toctext">Missing the point</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="#Basic_logical_flaws"><span class="tocnumber">1.2</span> <span class="toctext">Basic logical flaws</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#The_Bible_was_wrong_before"><span class="tocnumber">1.3</span> <span class="toctext">The Bible was wrong before</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="#Uses_and_examples"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Uses and examples</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="#Failing_at_even_being_fallacious"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">Failing at even being fallacious</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="#Realism_versus_anti-realism_in_science"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Realism versus anti-realism in science</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="#See_also"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9"><a href="#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10"><a href="#Notes"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Flaws">Flaws</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Flaws">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:302px;"><a href="/wiki/File:The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions_2nd_edition_Thomas_Kuhn.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions_2nd_edition_Thomas_Kuhn.jpg/300px-The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions_2nd_edition_Thomas_Kuhn.jpg" decoding="async" width="300" height="400" class="thumbimage" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions_2nd_edition_Thomas_Kuhn.jpg/450px-The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions_2nd_edition_Thomas_Kuhn.jpg 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions_2nd_edition_Thomas_Kuhn.jpg/600px-The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions_2nd_edition_Thomas_Kuhn.jpg 2x" data-file-width="867" data-file-height="1156" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions_2nd_edition_Thomas_Kuhn.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 2nd edition, <a href="/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn" title="Thomas Kuhn">Thomas Kuhn</a></div></div></div> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>[W]hen people thought the <a href="/wiki/Flat_Earth" title="Flat Earth">earth was flat</a>, they were wrong. When people thought the <a href="/wiki/Earth" title="Earth">earth</a> was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is <a href="/wiki/Wronger_than_wrong" title="Wronger than wrong">wronger than both of them put together</a>.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—<a href="/wiki/Isaac_Asimov" title="Isaac Asimov">Isaac Asimov</a><sup id="cite_ref-relativityofwrong_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-relativityofwrong-2">[2]</a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="thumb tleft"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:302px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Scientific_method.PNG" class="image"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/6/6f/Scientific_method.PNG/300px-Scientific_method.PNG" decoding="async" width="300" height="96" class="thumbimage" srcset="/w/images/thumb/6/6f/Scientific_method.PNG/450px-Scientific_method.PNG 1.5x, /w/images/6/6f/Scientific_method.PNG 2x" data-file-width="454" data-file-height="146" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Scientific_method.PNG" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>The <a href="/wiki/Scientific_method" title="Scientific method">scientific method</a>.</div></div></div> <p>Usually (or at least often) "science was wrong before" is used to defend the existence of a <i><a href="/wiki/Falsifiability" title="Falsifiability">disproven</a></i> phenomenon — <a href="/wiki/Alternative_medicine" title="Alternative medicine">alternative medicine</a>, <a href="/wiki/Perpetual_motion" title="Perpetual motion">perpetual motion</a>, <a href="/wiki/Crank" title="Crank">crank</a> <a href="/wiki/Theory_of_Everything" class="mw-redirect" title="Theory of Everything">theories of everything</a>, <a href="/wiki/Faster-than-light_travel" title="Faster-than-light travel">faster-than-light travel</a>… the list is really endless for where this has been applied before. The usual examples of science being wrong (like the <a href="/wiki/Geocentric" class="mw-redirect" title="Geocentric">geocentric</a> worldview that "science" used to hold) were theories that were in no way disprovable <i>at the time</i>, much in the way that <a href="/wiki/String_theory" title="String theory">string theory</a> cannot be readily disproved at <i>this</i> time. Many alternative medical practices, on the other hand, have been carefully shown to be utterly ineffective in one study after another — no additional information will suddenly contradict these results. When used like this, the "science was wrong before" trope is effectively like suggesting that our observations that <a href="/wiki/Gravity" title="Gravity">gravity</a> is an attractive force are <i>wrong</i>, because one day in the future we <i>might just</i> see something go floating up instead of falling down, and <a href="/wiki/Non_sequitur" title="Non sequitur">therefore</a> <a href="/wiki/Homeopathy" title="Homeopathy">homeopathy</a> works. </p><p>So while it is true that several believed-to-be-true theories turned out to be wrong, that doesn't mean that theories that have already been proven wrong might suddenly turn out to be right, or that all theories with an overwhelming scientific consensus will necessarily turn out to be wrong. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Missing_the_point">Missing the point</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Missing the point">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:302px;"><a href="/wiki/File:240724175_10227181076779139_8654300658544882283_n.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/9/93/240724175_10227181076779139_8654300658544882283_n.jpg/300px-240724175_10227181076779139_8654300658544882283_n.jpg" decoding="async" width="300" height="275" class="thumbimage" srcset="/w/images/thumb/9/93/240724175_10227181076779139_8654300658544882283_n.jpg/450px-240724175_10227181076779139_8654300658544882283_n.jpg 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/9/93/240724175_10227181076779139_8654300658544882283_n.jpg/600px-240724175_10227181076779139_8654300658544882283_n.jpg 2x" data-file-width="960" data-file-height="879" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:240724175_10227181076779139_8654300658544882283_n.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>This is pretty easy to understand.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3">[note 1]</a></sup></div></div></div> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>Scientific knowledge is often transitory: some (but not all) of what we find is made obsolete, or even falsified, by new findings. That is not a weakness but a strength, for our best understanding of phenomena will alter with changes in our way of thinking, our tools for looking at nature, and what we find in nature itself. Any "knowledge" incapable of being revised with advances in data and human thinking does not deserve the name of knowledge.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—<a href="/wiki/Jerry_Coyne" title="Jerry Coyne">Jerry Coyne</a>, <i>Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible</i> (2015)</cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The logic behind this argument is <a href="/wiki/Fallacious" class="mw-redirect" title="Fallacious">fallacious</a> in a number of ways. Primarily it misrepresents how science actually works by <a href="/wiki/Framing" title="Framing">forcing</a> it into a <a href="/wiki/False_dichotomy" class="mw-redirect" title="False dichotomy">binary conception</a> of "right" and "wrong". To describe outdated or discredited theories as "wrong" misses a major subtlety in science: discarded theories aren't really <i>wrong</i>, they just fail to explain new evidence, and more often than not the new theory to come along is almost the same as the old one, but with some extensions, caveats, or alternatives.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4">[note 2]</a></sup> Often enough, these "new" theories are already in existence and just waiting in the wings, ready for new evidence to come along and differentiate them. This is well exemplified in <a href="/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn" title="Thomas Kuhn">Thomas Kuhn</a>'s writing on scientific revolutions, who's work has been co-opted by many <a href="/wiki/Cranks" class="mw-redirect" title="Cranks">cranks</a>. </p><p>For example, take geocentrism. One of the strongest arguments against <a href="/wiki/Heliocentrism" title="Heliocentrism">heliocentrism</a> was the apparent lack of stellar <a href="/wiki/Parallax" class="mw-redirect" title="Parallax">parallax</a> (or an apparent shift in the position of the <a href="/wiki/Star" title="Star">stars</a> from season to season). Because there was no evidence, Greek <a href="/wiki/Astronomer" class="mw-redirect" title="Astronomer">astronomers</a> assumed either that the stars were fixed in the sky (geocentrism), or that they were <i>so far away</i> that parallax was not noticeable. For almost 2000 years, there was no evidence for parallax, and it was not until the 1800s that parallax was proven to be correct and geocentrism soundly quashed. </p><p>Another example: the <a href="/wiki/Quantum_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Quantum theory">quantum theory</a> doesn't explain gravity, but it does not invalidate the <a href="/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat" title="Schrödinger's cat">Schrödinger equation</a> or the quantisation of <a href="/wiki/Energy" title="Energy">energy</a>; it merely says that the current formulation of the theory is incomplete and there are modifications to quantum theory already being formulated, ready for when the next big leap in observational evidence occurs. </p><p>That science can be "wrong" in this way is a <i>feature</i>, not a bug, as one of the differences between science and <a href="/wiki/Pseudoscience" title="Pseudoscience">pseudoscience</a> is that science builds upon itself, whereas pseudoscience <a href="/wiki/PRATT" class="mw-redirect" title="PRATT">rails on one claim and doesn't let up</a>, despite evidence to the contrary.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5">[note 3]</a></sup> These pseudoscientists present "science" as a monolithic entity with no differentiation between different sciences and the uncertainties and overlaps associated with each field. For example, an <a href="/wiki/Economic" class="mw-redirect" title="Economic">economic</a> study of the <a href="/wiki/Minimum_wage" title="Minimum wage">minimum wage</a> that uses the scientific method cannot be replicated as easily as, say, a basic <a href="/wiki/Chemistry" title="Chemistry">chemistry</a> experiment that can be repeated in a lab — like finding the boiling point of a chemical. Thus, the economic study may not be "wrong", but has a lower degree of certainty attached to it than the chemistry experiment. Inability to make this distinction is often the result of the failure to think in a <a href="/wiki/Bayesian" title="Bayesian">Bayesian</a> fashion, in which the subtleties of errors are more accurately appreciated. Thus the "science was wrong before" argument conflates different types of errors within science, confusing incompleteness of theories with being <i>outright</i> wrong. This, as <a href="/wiki/Isaac_Asimov" title="Isaac Asimov">Isaac Asimov</a> called it in his essay <i>The Relativity of Wrong</i>,<sup id="cite_ref-relativityofwrong_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-relativityofwrong-2">[2]</a></sup> is a form of being <a href="/wiki/Wronger_than_wrong" title="Wronger than wrong">wronger than wrong</a>. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Basic_logical_flaws">Basic logical flaws</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Basic logical flaws">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>But more than just being a complete misrepresentation of science, claiming that "science was wrong before" is flawed at even the basic logical level. First, this phrase can be considered a <i><a href="/wiki/Non_sequitur" title="Non sequitur">non sequitur</a></i> or <a href="/wiki/Red_herring" title="Red herring">red herring</a> because it usually has <i>nothing</i> to do with the subject at hand. For example, that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/phlogiston" class="extiw" title="wp:phlogiston" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: phlogiston">phlogiston</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> was wrong has no bearing on whether or not evolution is correct, and whether <a href="/wiki/Neutrino" title="Neutrino">neutrinos</a> may travel <a href="/wiki/Speed_of_light" title="Speed of light">faster than light</a> has absolutely no relevance to homeopathy,<sup id="cite_ref-homeopathy_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-homeopathy-6">[3]</a></sup> as that is already governed by <a href="/wiki/Evidence_for_homeopathy" class="mw-redirect" title="Evidence for homeopathy">a certain evidence base</a>. </p><p>This is also a <a href="/wiki/False_dichotomy" class="mw-redirect" title="False dichotomy">false dichotomy</a>; someone using the argument is apparently suggesting that all science and <a href="/wiki/Rationalist" class="mw-redirect" title="Rationalist">rationalist</a> thought must be perfectly correct the first time <b>or</b> their own selected <i><a href="/wiki/Woo" title="Woo">woo</a>-du-jour</i> must be correct. Using a <i><a href="/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum" title="Reductio ad absurdum">reductio ad absurdum</a></i>, the argument can apply to <i>any and all</i> forms of science and technology. (If <a href="/wiki/Hypotheses" class="mw-redirect" title="Hypotheses">hypotheses</a> and theories which have been tested time and time again and been proven correct can be "wrong", what does that say about unproven, or even disproven, claims?) Therefore, there would be no way to test the validity of any claims, at all. But no one would say, "I'm not going to drive in a <a href="/wiki/Car" class="mw-redirect" title="Car">car</a>! Science has been wrong before!" If "science has been wrong", and this disproves the effectiveness of earwax, doubly does it disprove the effectiveness of <a href="/wiki/Ear_candling" title="Ear candling">ear candles</a>. </p><p>For these reasons, "science was wrong before" is an objection that is <a href="/wiki/Not_even_wrong" title="Not even wrong">not even wrong</a>, and tends to be used as a last-ditch <a href="/wiki/Escape_hatch" title="Escape hatch">escape hatch</a> when the crank has run out of concrete objections or <a href="/wiki/Talking_point" class="mw-redirect" title="Talking point">talking points</a>. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="The_Bible_was_wrong_before">The Bible was wrong before</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: The Bible was wrong before">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>According to some Christians, <a href="/wiki/But_that_was_the_Old_Testament" title="But that was the Old Testament">the Old Testament was wrong before</a> and needed to be "corrected" by the <a href="/wiki/New_Testament" title="New Testament">New Testament</a>. Hence, if one accepts the premise of the "Science Was Wrong Before" argument, then one would have to conclude that The Bible cannot be trusted because it, too, was wrong before. </p><p>If you point this out to Christians who say "science was wrong before," they might respond by asserting that <a href="/wiki/Special_pleading" title="Special pleading">The Bible should not be held to the same standard as science</a>. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Uses_and_examples">Uses and examples</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Uses and examples">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:167px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Sir_Isaac_Newton_(1643-1727).jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Sir_Isaac_Newton_%281643-1727%29.jpg/165px-Sir_Isaac_Newton_%281643-1727%29.jpg" decoding="async" width="165" height="202" class="thumbimage" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Sir_Isaac_Newton_%281643-1727%29.jpg/248px-Sir_Isaac_Newton_%281643-1727%29.jpg 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Sir_Isaac_Newton_%281643-1727%29.jpg/330px-Sir_Isaac_Newton_%281643-1727%29.jpg 2x" data-file-width="396" data-file-height="484" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Sir_Isaac_Newton_(1643-1727).jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div><a href="/wiki/Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Isaac Newton</a>'s formulation of gravity was superseded by <a href="/wiki/General_relativity" class="mw-redirect" title="General relativity">general relativity</a>, therefore my <a href="/wiki/Water_powered_car" class="mw-redirect" title="Water powered car">water powered car</a> works… wait, <i>what?</i></div></div></div> <ul><li>The "science was wrong before" <a href="/wiki/Canard" title="Canard">canard</a> seems to be particularly popular among <a href="/wiki/Alternative_medicine" title="Alternative medicine">alternative medicine</a> woomeisters, as they can easily point to any failed medication or treatment (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vioxx" class="extiw" title="wp:Vioxx" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Vioxx">Vioxx</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> is one of the most commonly used,<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7">[4]</a></sup> but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/thalidomide" class="extiw" title="wp:thalidomide" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: thalidomide">thalidomide</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> works well too<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8">[5]</a></sup>) and say "Look, science was wrong before, so buy my <a href="/wiki/Quackery" title="Quackery">quackery</a>!" Some woo-meisters take this to extreme lengths and reject the scientific method entirely.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9">[note 4]</a></sup></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Creationist" class="mw-redirect" title="Creationist">Creationists</a> usually use it in reference to the <a href="/wiki/Piltdown_Man" title="Piltdown Man">Piltdown Man</a> — though this is rife with many problems, not least of all the fact that it was exposed as a <a href="/wiki/Hoax" title="Hoax">hoax</a> <i>by</i> science and not by, say, creationists.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Free_energy" title="Free energy">Free energy</a> types love it as well. It tends to play into <a href="/wiki/Cold_fusion" title="Cold fusion">cold fusion</a> and other <a href="/wiki/Free_energy_suppression" title="Free energy suppression">free energy suppression</a> <a href="/wiki/Conspiracy_theories" class="mw-redirect" title="Conspiracy theories">conspiracy theories</a>.</li> <li>The "science was wrong before" gambit appeared <a href="/wiki/Speed_of_light#Neutrino_observations_in_2011" title="Speed of light">when neutrinos were suspected of travelling faster than light</a>. Homeopaths played it perfectly straight,<sup id="cite_ref-homeopathy_6-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-homeopathy-6">[3]</a></sup> while some <a href="/wiki/Above_Top_Secret" title="Above Top Secret">Above Top Secret</a> posters seemed to indicate it would change our thinking of <a href="/wiki/UFO" class="mw-redirect" title="UFO">UFOs</a> and other phenomena.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10">[6]</a></sup></li> <li>Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, around the <a href="/wiki/Middle_Ages" title="Middle Ages">Middle Ages</a>, Western scientific consensus endorsed and relied on Biblical revelation and Christian tradition — but then it got hijacked by <a href="/wiki/Secular" title="Secular">godless</a> <a href="/wiki/Materialism" title="Materialism">materialist</a> <a href="/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment" title="Age of Enlightenment">Enlightenment</a> <a href="/wiki/Atheism" title="Atheism">atheists</a>. So "science" (whatever that means) was <b>right</b> before. But then became wrong. But will become right again when <a href="/wiki/Creation_science" title="Creation science">Creation "Scientists"</a> triumph due to the <a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_science" title="Philosophy of science">self-correcting nature of "science"</a>. So "science" changes. QED.</li></ul> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Failing_at_even_being_fallacious">Failing at even being fallacious</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Failing at even being fallacious">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>Oftentimes, extremely factually-challenged (or <a href="/wiki/Intellectual_dishonesty" class="mw-redirect" title="Intellectual dishonesty">intellectually dishonest</a>) <a href="/wiki/Cranks" class="mw-redirect" title="Cranks">cranks</a> will spin an <a href="/wiki/Urban_legend" title="Urban legend">urban legend</a>, <a href="/wiki/Myth" title="Myth">myth</a>, or misinterpretation of a historical event as a case where "Science was wrong before". These are cases where not only is the logic flawed, but the "examples" themselves are factually incorrect: </p> <ul><li>"Science was wrong before" is often found alongside the <a href="/wiki/Galileo_gambit" title="Galileo gambit">Galileo gambit</a>. The obvious problem here is that Galileo was persecuted by the <a href="/wiki/Catholic_Church" class="mw-redirect" title="Catholic Church">Catholic Church</a>, not by "science". There was also the crucial detail that Galileo had <i>evidence</i> to back up his ideas.</li> <li>In many cases, old theories were not proven wrong, but only shown to be incomplete. For example, the discovery of quantum mechanics didn't prove classical or <a href="/wiki/Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Newtonian</a> mechanics entirely wrong, but it did show that classical mechanics did not hold true in every case.</li> <li>A common talking point among <a href="/wiki/Global_warming_denier" class="mw-redirect" title="Global warming denier">global warming deniers</a> is the so-called prediction of "<a href="/wiki/Global_cooling" class="mw-redirect" title="Global cooling">global cooling</a>" in the 1970s. There were in fact scientists who argued for global cooling; however, a survey of the <a href="/wiki/Scientific_journal" title="Scientific journal">literature</a> as a whole shows that the majority of papers published even back then argued for warming.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11">[7]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12">[8]</a></sup></li> <li>Paul Ehrlich's <a href="/wiki/Cornucopian#The_Population_Bomb" class="mw-redirect" title="Cornucopian"><i>The Population Bomb</i></a> is often invoked to <a href="/wiki/Handwave" title="Handwave">handwave</a> away any concerns about <a href="/wiki/Overpopulation" title="Overpopulation">overpopulation</a> or sometimes even <i>all</i> <a href="/wiki/Environmental" class="mw-redirect" title="Environmental">environmental</a> issues.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anti-environmentalism" title="Anti-environmentalism">Anti-environmentalists</a> in general love to abuse this gambit. Need to write a good <a href="/wiki/Bullshit" title="Bullshit">bullshit</a> tract on global warming? Dig up old denialist literature on any recent environmental problem (<a href="/wiki/Acid_rain" title="Acid rain">acid rain</a>, <a href="/wiki/DDT" title="DDT">DDT</a>, <a href="/wiki/Ozone_layer" title="Ozone layer">ozone depletion</a>, take your pick) and use it to announce that "science was wrong before." Anything by <a href="/wiki/S._Fred_Singer" title="S. Fred Singer">S. Fred Singer</a> should <a href="/wiki/Expert_for_hire" title="Expert for hire">do the trick</a>.</li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Realism_versus_anti-realism_in_science">Realism versus anti-realism in science</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Realism versus anti-realism in science">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>While "science was wrong before" is most often used in service of science <a href="/wiki/Denialism" title="Denialism">denialism</a>, though superficially similar, it should not be confused with a traditional argument found in the <a href="/wiki/Philosophy_of_science" title="Philosophy of science">philosophy of science</a> that is leveled against scientific realism, namely, the pessimistic meta-induction from past falsification of accepted scientific theories, which roughly goes like this: Since our best scientific theories have in the past been shown to be largely false, it is probable that our current accepted scientific theories are in large measure false. Therefore, we ought to be scientific anti-realists.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13">[9]</a></sup> The realist vs. anti-realist debate concerns whether the theoretical entities (e.g. micro-physical particles, fields, etc.) postulated by our best scientific theories correspond to real entities or whether said entities, and the wider <a href="/wiki/Mathematical" class="mw-redirect" title="Mathematical">mathematical</a> framework in which they are situated, are merely <a href="/wiki/Empirical" class="mw-redirect" title="Empirical">empirically</a> adequate (i.e., computational tools via which we make successful predictions).<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14">[10]</a></sup> </p><p>Needless to say, this debate in the philosophy of science is much more complex and nuanced than shouting "Phlogiston! Hah, where is your science now?" </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Chewbacca_Defense" title="Chewbacca Defense">Chewbacca Defense</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Galileo_gambit" title="Galileo gambit">Galileo gambit</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Just_a_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Just a theory">Just a theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Science_stopper" class="mw-redirect" title="Science stopper">Science stopper</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Uncertainty_tactic" title="Uncertainty tactic">Uncertainty tactic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Science_doesn%27t_know_everything" title="Science doesn't know everything">Science doesn't know everything</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reproducibility" title="Reproducibility">Reproducibility</a></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="External_links">External links</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: External links">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.fo/NOpg6">Science has been wrong before</a>, Critical Thinking Association (<a href="/wiki/UK" class="mw-redirect" title="UK">UK</a>)</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/11/science_wrong.html">The appeal to "Science was wrong before"</a>, Skeptico</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://lesswrong.com/lw/mn/absolute_authority/">Absolute Authority</a>, <a href="/wiki/Less_Wrong" class="mw-redirect" title="Less Wrong">Less Wrong</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgk8UdV7GQ0">Science Is A Liar Sometimes, a parody of this fallacy from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia</a></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Notes">Notes</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Notes">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2; font-size:80%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-3">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Totally unrelated: one word in this meme is misspelled. If you can find out in less than 10 seconds, you've shown that you actually paid attention in English class.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-4">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Consider the mathematical constant <a href="/wiki/Pi" class="mw-redirect" title="Pi">pi</a>. The value 3.14159 and the latest value calculated to millions of digits are both, in a sense, "wrong", but it would be absurd to say that mathematics doesn't know any more about pi than it did 2000 years ago. The currently calculated value of pi may be still <i>absolutely</i> "wrong", but it is many times <i>more true</i> than previous values. Similarly, though science may never know The Truth™, it certainly knows <i>more</i> now than it did hundreds of years ago.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-5">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">For instance, homeopaths will often cite an example of evidence disproving a previously-held scientific theory, and say that therefore people should believe in homeopathy – despite the fact that the scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows homeopathy to be ineffective. In other words, evidence against a mainstream theory is valid, but evidence against an unconventional one (such as homeopathy) <a href="/wiki/Special_pleading" title="Special pleading">is apparently not</a>. (It's like pseudoscientists are more concerned about competing theories being correct than their own theories being wrong… probably because they're <a href="/wiki/Confirmation_bias" title="Confirmation bias">entirely willing</a> to resort to <a href="/wiki/Escape_hatch" title="Escape hatch">dirty</a> <a href="/wiki/Moving_the_goalposts" title="Moving the goalposts">tricks</a> to <a href="/wiki/Handwave" title="Handwave">handwave</a> away any evidence that suggests that their theories are wrong.)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-9">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See <a href="/wiki/NaturalNews" title="NaturalNews">NaturalNews</a> for an egregious example of this.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2; font-size:80%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgk8UdV7GQ0">"Science Is A Liar Sometimes"</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-relativityofwrong-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">↑ <sup><a href="#cite_ref-relativityofwrong_2-0">2.0</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-relativityofwrong_2-1">2.1</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text">Isaac Asimov, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.fo/TEUrX">The Relativity of Wrong</a>. The Skeptical Inquirer, Fall 1989, Vol. 14, No. 1, Pp. 35-44.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-homeopathy-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">↑ <sup><a href="#cite_ref-homeopathy_6-0">3.0</a></sup> <sup><a href="#cite_ref-homeopathy_6-1">3.1</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://gaia-health.com/gaia-blog/2011-09-23/subnuclear-particles-may-move-faster-than-light-who-says-homeopathy-cant-work/">Gaia-Health.com - Subnuclear Particles May Move Faster Than Light. Who Says Homeopathy Can’t Work?</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-7">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">A good example of this: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/anti-vaccine-propaganda-from-sharyl-attkisson-of-cbs-news-2/">Anti-vaccine propaganda from Sharyl Atkisson of CBS News</a>, Science-Based Medicine</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-8">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/oh-yeah-thalidomide-wheres-your-science-now/">Oh Yeah? Thalidomide! Where's Your Science Now?</a> Science-Based Medicine</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-10">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread758453/pg1">Above Top Secret — "'Light-speed' neutrinos point to new physical reality"</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-11">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Thomas C. Peterson, William M. Connolley, and John Fleck. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/2008BAMS2370.1">The Myth of the 1970s Global Cooling Scientific Consensus.</a> <i>Bulletin of the American Meterological Society</i>, Sep. 2008, pp. 1325-1337.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-12">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU_AtHkB4Ms">Anatomy of a myth</a>, <a href="/wiki/Potholer54" title="Potholer54">Potholer54</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-13">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Laudan, Larry "A Confutation of Convergent Realism", Philosophy of Science, Vol (48), No (1), (March 1981): 19-49.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-14">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">For further detail, see the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries for <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-realism/">scientific realism</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/constructive-empiricism/">constructive empiricism</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-underdetermination/">scientific underdetermination.</a></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div role="navigation" aria-labelledby="logical_fallacies-navbox" style="clear:both;"> <table class="toccolours collapsible collapsed autocollapse innercollapse outercollapse navbox nowraplinks" style="width:100%;"> <tbody><tr> <th colspan="4" style="background:#009761; color:white; text-align:center;"><div style="float:left;" class="navbar"><div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Logfal" title="Template:Logfal"><span style="color:white">v</span></a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Logfal" title="Template talk:Logfal"><span style="color:white">t</span></a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Logfal&action=edit"><span style="color:white">e</span></a></div></div><span style="color:white; font-size:120%"><a href="/wiki/Category:Navigation_templates" title="Category:Navigation templates"><span style="color:white">Articles</span></a> about <a href="/wiki/Logical_fallacy" title="Logical fallacy"><span id="logical_fallacies-navbox" style="color:white">logical fallacies</span></a></span> </th></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" style="background:#009761; width:25%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Informal_fallacies" title="Category:Informal fallacies"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Informal fallacies:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition" title="Appeal to tradition">Appeal to tradition</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_novelty" title="Appeal to novelty">Appeal to novelty</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_nature" title="Appeal to nature">Appeal to nature</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_morality" title="Argument from morality">Argument from morality</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_martyrdom" title="Argumentum ad martyrdom">Argumentum ad martyrdom</a> • <a href="/wiki/Big_words" title="Big words">Big words</a> • <a href="/wiki/Certum_est_quia_impossibile_est" title="Certum est quia impossibile est">Certum est quia impossibile est</a> • <a href="/wiki/Morton%27s_fork" title="Morton's fork">Morton's fork</a> • <a href="/wiki/Friend_argument" title="Friend argument">Friend argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule" title="Exception that proves the rule">Exception that proves the rule</a> • <a href="/wiki/Extended_analogy" title="Extended analogy">Extended analogy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Hindsight_bias" title="Hindsight bias">Hindsight bias</a> • <a href="/wiki/Race_card" title="Race card">Race card</a> • <a href="/wiki/Moralistic_fallacy" title="Moralistic fallacy">Moralistic fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Release_the_data" title="Release the data">Release the data</a> • <a href="/wiki/Gish_Gallop" title="Gish Gallop">Gish Gallop</a> • <a href="/wiki/Terrorism-baiting" title="Terrorism-baiting">Terrorism-baiting</a> • <a href="/wiki/Uncertainty_tactic" title="Uncertainty tactic">Uncertainty tactic</a> • <a href="/wiki/Greece-baiting" title="Greece-baiting">Greece-baiting</a> • <a href="/wiki/Ham_Hightail" title="Ham Hightail">Ham Hightail</a> • <a href="/wiki/Red-baiting" title="Red-baiting">Red-baiting</a> • <a href="/wiki/Gore%27s_Law" title="Gore's Law">Gore's Law</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nazi_analogies" title="Nazi analogies">Nazi analogies</a> • <a href="/wiki/Mistaking_the_map_for_the_territory" title="Mistaking the map for the territory">Mistaking the map for the territory</a> • <a href="/wiki/Red_herring" title="Red herring">Red herring</a> • <a href="/wiki/Quidquid_latine_dictum_sit,_altum_videtur" title="Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur">Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur</a> • <a href="/wiki/Presentism" title="Presentism">Presentism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Sunk_cost" title="Sunk cost">Sunk cost</a> • <a href="/wiki/Two_wrongs_make_a_right" title="Two wrongs make a right">Two wrongs make a right</a> • <a href="/wiki/Flying_carpet_fallacy" title="Flying carpet fallacy">Flying carpet fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/My_enemy%27s_enemy" title="My enemy's enemy">My enemy's enemy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_ancient_wisdom" title="Appeal to ancient wisdom">Appeal to ancient wisdom</a> • <a href="/wiki/Danth%27s_Law" title="Danth's Law">Danth's Law</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_lunam" title="Argumentum ad lunam">Argumentum ad lunam</a> • <a href="/wiki/Balance_fallacy" title="Balance fallacy">Balance fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Golden_hammer" title="Golden hammer">Golden hammer</a> • <a href="/wiki/Loaded_question" title="Loaded question">Loaded question</a> • <a href="/wiki/Escape_to_the_future" title="Escape to the future">Escape to the future</a> • <a href="/wiki/Word_magic" title="Word magic">Word magic</a> • <a href="/wiki/Spider-Man_fallacy" title="Spider-Man fallacy">Spider-Man fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Sanctioning_the_devil" title="Sanctioning the devil">Sanctioning the devil</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_mystery" title="Appeal to mystery">Appeal to mystery</a> • <a href="/wiki/Informal_fallacy" title="Informal fallacy">Informal fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Common_sense" title="Common sense">Common sense</a> • <a href="/wiki/Post-designation" title="Post-designation">Post-designation</a> • <a href="/wiki/Hyperbole" title="Hyperbole">Hyperbole</a> • <a href="/wiki/Relativist_fallacy" title="Relativist fallacy">Relativist fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Due_diligence" title="Due diligence">Due diligence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Straw_man" title="Straw man">Straw man</a> • <a href="/wiki/Good_old_days" title="Good old days">Good old days</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_probability" title="Appeal to probability">Appeal to probability</a> • <a href="/wiki/Infinite_regress" title="Infinite regress">Infinite regress</a> • <a href="/wiki/Circular_reasoning" title="Circular reasoning">Circular reasoning</a> • <a href="/wiki/Media_was_wrong_before" title="Media was wrong before">Media was wrong before</a> • <a href="/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem" title="Is–ought problem">Is–ought problem</a> • <a href="/wiki/Ad_iram" title="Ad iram">Ad iram</a> • <a href="/wiki/Just_asking_questions" title="Just asking questions">Just asking questions</a> • <a href="/wiki/Pink-baiting" title="Pink-baiting">Pink-baiting</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_faith" title="Appeal to faith">Appeal to faith</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_fear" title="Appeal to fear">Appeal to fear</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_bias" title="Appeal to bias">Appeal to bias</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_confidence" title="Appeal to confidence">Appeal to confidence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_consequences" title="Appeal to consequences">Appeal to consequences</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion" title="Appeal to emotion">Appeal to emotion</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_flattery" title="Appeal to flattery">Appeal to flattery</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_gravity" title="Appeal to gravity">Appeal to gravity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_hate" title="Appeal to hate">Appeal to hate</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_omniscience" title="Argument from omniscience">Argument from omniscience</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_silence" title="Argument from silence">Argument from silence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_baculum" title="Argumentum ad baculum">Argumentum ad baculum</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_fastidium" title="Argumentum ad fastidium">Argumentum ad fastidium</a> • <a href="/wiki/Association_fallacy" title="Association fallacy">Association fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Broken_window_fallacy" title="Broken window fallacy">Broken window fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Category_mistake" title="Category mistake">Category mistake</a> • <a href="/wiki/Confounding_factor" title="Confounding factor">Confounding factor</a> • <a href="/wiki/Counterfactual_fallacy" title="Counterfactual fallacy">Counterfactual fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Courtier%27s_Reply" title="Courtier's Reply">Courtier's Reply</a> • <a href="/wiki/Damning_with_faint_praise" title="Damning with faint praise">Damning with faint praise</a> • <a href="/wiki/Definitional_fallacies" title="Definitional fallacies">Definitional fallacies</a> • <a href="/wiki/Equivocation" title="Equivocation">Equivocation</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_accent" title="Fallacy of accent">Fallacy of accent</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_accident" title="Fallacy of accident">Fallacy of accident</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_amphiboly" title="Fallacy of amphiboly">Fallacy of amphiboly</a> • <a href="/wiki/Gambler%27s_fallacy" title="Gambler's fallacy">Gambler's fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Imprecision_fallacy" title="Imprecision fallacy">Imprecision fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Moving_the_goalposts" title="Moving the goalposts">Moving the goalposts</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy" title="Nirvana fallacy">Nirvana fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Overprecision" title="Overprecision">Overprecision</a> • <a href="/wiki/Pathos_gambit" title="Pathos gambit">Pathos gambit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Pragmatic_fallacy" title="Pragmatic fallacy">Pragmatic fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Quote_mining" title="Quote mining">Quote mining</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_sarcina_inserta" title="Argumentum ad sarcina inserta">Argumentum ad sarcina inserta</a> • <a href="/wiki/Science_doesn%27t_know_everything" title="Science doesn't know everything">Science doesn't know everything</a> • <a href="/wiki/Slothful_induction" title="Slothful induction">Slothful induction</a> • <a href="/wiki/Spotlight_fallacy" title="Spotlight fallacy">Spotlight fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Style_over_substance" title="Style over substance">Style over substance</a> • <a href="/wiki/Toupee_fallacy" title="Toupee fallacy">Toupee fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Genuine_but_insignificant_cause" title="Genuine but insignificant cause">Genuine but insignificant cause</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_incredulity" title="Argument from incredulity">Argument from incredulity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_age" title="Appeal to age">Appeal to age</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_nauseam" title="Argumentum ad nauseam">Argumentum ad nauseam</a> • <a href="/wiki/Phantom_distinction" title="Phantom distinction">Phantom distinction</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_common_sense" title="Appeal to common sense">Appeal to common sense</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_hysteria" title="Argumentum ad hysteria">Argumentum ad hysteria</a> • <a href="/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox" title="Omnipotence paradox">Omnipotence paradox</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_etymology" title="Argument from etymology">Argument from etymology</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_trauma" title="Appeal to trauma">Appeal to trauma</a> • <a href="/wiki/Countless_counterfeits_fallacy" title="Countless counterfeits fallacy">Countless counterfeits fallacy</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="2" style="background:#009761; width:20%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Ad_hoc" title="Category:Ad hoc"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Ad hoc:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/No_True_Scotsman" title="No True Scotsman">No True Scotsman</a> • <a href="/wiki/Moving_the_goalposts" title="Moving the goalposts">Moving the goalposts</a> • <a href="/wiki/Escape_hatch" title="Escape hatch">Escape hatch</a> • <a href="/wiki/Handwave" title="Handwave">Handwave</a> • <a href="/wiki/Special_pleading" title="Special pleading">Special pleading</a> • <a href="/wiki/Slothful_induction" title="Slothful induction">Slothful induction</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy" title="Nirvana fallacy">Nirvana fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/God_of_the_gaps" title="God of the gaps">God of the gaps</a> • <a href="/wiki/PIDOOMA" title="PIDOOMA">PIDOOMA</a> • <a href="/wiki/Ad_hoc" title="Ad hoc">Ad hoc</a> • <a href="/wiki/Tone_argument" title="Tone argument">Tone argument</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="2" style="background:#009761; width:20%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Arguments_from_ignorance" title="Category:Arguments from ignorance"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Arguments from ignorance:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Science_doesn%27t_know_everything" title="Science doesn't know everything">Science doesn't know everything</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_incredulity" title="Argument from incredulity">Argument from incredulity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_silence" title="Argument from silence">Argument from silence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Toupee_fallacy" title="Toupee fallacy">Toupee fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_censorship" title="Appeal to censorship">Appeal to censorship</a> • <a href="/wiki/Holmesian_fallacy" title="Holmesian fallacy">Holmesian fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_omniscience" title="Argument from omniscience">Argument from omniscience</a> • <a href="/wiki/Willful_ignorance" title="Willful ignorance">Willful ignorance</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance" title="Argument from ignorance">Argument from ignorance</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="2" style="background:#009761; width:20%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Causation_fallacies" title="Category:Causation fallacies"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Causation fallacies:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Post_hoc,_ergo_propter_hoc" title="Post hoc, ergo propter hoc">Post hoc, ergo propter hoc</a> • <a href="/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation" title="Correlation does not imply causation">Correlation does not imply causation</a> • <a href="/wiki/Wrong_direction" title="Wrong direction">Wrong direction</a> • <a href="/wiki/Counterfactual_fallacy" title="Counterfactual fallacy">Counterfactual fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Regression_fallacy" title="Regression fallacy">Regression fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Gambler%27s_fallacy" title="Gambler's fallacy">Gambler's fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Denying_the_antecedent" title="Denying the antecedent">Denying the antecedent</a> • <a href="/wiki/Genuine_but_insignificant_cause" title="Genuine but insignificant cause">Genuine but insignificant cause</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="2" style="background:#009761; width:20%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Circular_reasoning" title="Category:Circular reasoning"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Circular reasoning:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Infinite_regress" title="Infinite regress">Infinite regress</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_by_assertion" title="Argument by assertion">Argument by assertion</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_dictionarium" title="Argumentum ad dictionarium">Argumentum ad dictionarium</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_faith" title="Appeal to faith">Appeal to faith</a> • <a href="/wiki/Circular_reasoning" title="Circular reasoning">Circular reasoning</a> • <a href="/wiki/Self-refuting_idea" title="Self-refuting idea">Self-refuting idea</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="2" style="background:#009761; width:20%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Emotional_appeals" title="Category:Emotional appeals"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Emotional appeals:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_fear" title="Appeal to fear">Appeal to fear</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion" title="Appeal to emotion">Appeal to emotion</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_confidence" title="Appeal to confidence">Appeal to confidence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Deepity" title="Deepity">Deepity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_baculum" title="Argumentum ad baculum">Argumentum ad baculum</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_shame" title="Appeal to shame">Appeal to shame</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_flattery" title="Appeal to flattery">Appeal to flattery</a> • <a href="/wiki/Tone_argument" title="Tone argument">Tone argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_money" title="Appeal to money">Appeal to money</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_fastidium" title="Argumentum ad fastidium">Argumentum ad fastidium</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_gravity" title="Appeal to gravity">Appeal to gravity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_consequences" title="Appeal to consequences">Appeal to consequences</a> • <a href="/wiki/Loaded_language" title="Loaded language">Loaded language</a> • <a href="/wiki/Style_over_substance" title="Style over substance">Style over substance</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_pity" title="Appeal to pity">Appeal to pity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_hate" title="Appeal to hate">Appeal to hate</a> • <a href="/wiki/Pathos_gambit" title="Pathos gambit">Pathos gambit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Shaming" title="Shaming">Shaming</a> • <a href="/wiki/Degenerate" title="Degenerate">Degenerate</a> • <a href="/wiki/Abomination" title="Abomination">Abomination</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="2" style="background:#009761; width:20%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Fallacies_of_ambiguity" title="Category:Fallacies of ambiguity"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Fallacies of ambiguity:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_accent" title="Fallacy of accent">Fallacy of accent</a> • <a href="/wiki/Equivocation" title="Equivocation">Equivocation</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_amphiboly" title="Fallacy of amphiboly">Fallacy of amphiboly</a> • <a href="/wiki/Quote_mining" title="Quote mining">Quote mining</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_ambiguity" title="Fallacy of ambiguity">Fallacy of ambiguity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Moral_equivalence" title="Moral equivalence">Moral equivalence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Scope_fallacy" title="Scope fallacy">Scope fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Suppressed_correlative" title="Suppressed correlative">Suppressed correlative</a> • <a href="/wiki/Not_as_bad_as" title="Not as bad as">Not as bad as</a> • <a href="/wiki/Etymology" title="Etymology">Etymology</a> • <a href="/wiki/Continuum_fallacy" title="Continuum fallacy">Continuum fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Wronger_than_wrong" title="Wronger than wrong">Wronger than wrong</a> • <a href="/wiki/Definitional_fallacies" title="Definitional fallacies">Definitional fallacies</a> • <a href="/wiki/Code_word" title="Code word">Code word</a> • <a href="/wiki/Phantom_distinction" title="Phantom distinction">Phantom distinction</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" style="background:#009761; width:25%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Formal_fallacies" title="Category:Formal fallacies"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Formal fallacies:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Confusion_of_the_inverse" title="Confusion of the inverse">Confusion of the inverse</a> • <a href="/wiki/Denying_the_antecedent" title="Denying the antecedent">Denying the antecedent</a> • <a href="/wiki/Non_sequitur" title="Non sequitur">Non sequitur</a> • <a href="/wiki/Affirmative_conclusion_from_a_negative_premise" title="Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise">Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise</a> • <a href="/wiki/Not_even_wrong" title="Not even wrong">Not even wrong</a> • <a href="/wiki/Chewbacca_Defense" title="Chewbacca Defense">Chewbacca Defense</a> • <a href="/wiki/Affirming_a_disjunct" title="Affirming a disjunct">Affirming a disjunct</a> • <a href="/wiki/Illicit_process" title="Illicit process">Illicit process</a> • <a href="/wiki/Four-term_fallacy" title="Four-term fallacy">Four-term fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Negative_conclusion_from_affirmative_premises" title="Negative conclusion from affirmative premises">Negative conclusion from affirmative premises</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_fallacy" title="Fallacy fallacy">Fallacy fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Substituting_explanation_for_premise" title="Substituting explanation for premise">Substituting explanation for premise</a> • <a href="/wiki/Enthymeme" title="Enthymeme">Enthymeme</a> • <a href="/wiki/Syllogism" title="Syllogism">Syllogism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Formal_fallacy" title="Formal fallacy">Formal fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Existential_assumption" title="Existential assumption">Existential assumption</a> • <a href="/wiki/Masked_man_fallacy" title="Masked man fallacy">Masked man fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Self-refuting_idea" title="Self-refuting idea">Self-refuting idea</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_by_gibberish" title="Argument by gibberish">Argument by gibberish</a> • <a href="/wiki/One_single_proof" title="One single proof">One single proof</a> • <a href="/wiki/Affirming_the_consequent" title="Affirming the consequent">Affirming the consequent</a> • <a href="/wiki/False_dilemma" title="False dilemma">False dilemma</a> • <a href="/wiki/Conjunction_fallacy" title="Conjunction fallacy">Conjunction fallacy</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" style="background:#009761; width:25%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Fallacious_arguments" title="Category:Fallacious arguments"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Fallacious arguments:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Bumblebee_argument" title="Bumblebee argument">Bumblebee argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fatwa_envy" title="Fatwa envy">Fatwa envy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Gotcha_argument" title="Gotcha argument">Gotcha argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Hoyle%27s_fallacy" title="Hoyle's fallacy">Hoyle's fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Intuition_pump" title="Intuition pump">Intuition pump</a> • <a href="/wiki/Logic_and_Creation" title="Logic and Creation">Logic and Creation</a> • <a href="/wiki/Not_Circular_Reasoning" title="Not Circular Reasoning">Not Circular Reasoning</a> • <a href="/wiki/Peanut_butter_argument" title="Peanut butter argument">Peanut butter argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Great_Beethoven_fallacy" title="Great Beethoven fallacy">Great Beethoven fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_unique_founding_conditions" title="Fallacy of unique founding conditions">Fallacy of unique founding conditions</a> • <a href="/wiki/Evil_is_the_absence_of_God" title="Evil is the absence of God">Evil is the absence of God</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_first_cause" title="Argument from first cause">Argument from first cause</a> • <a href="/wiki/How_do_you_know%3F_Were_you_there%3F" title="How do you know? Were you there?">How do you know? Were you there?</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_design" title="Argument from design">Argument from design</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_beauty" title="Argument from beauty">Argument from beauty</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_nature" title="Appeal to nature">Appeal to nature</a> • <a href="/wiki/Solferino_fallacy" title="Solferino fallacy">Solferino fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Religious_scientists" title="Religious scientists">Religious scientists</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nothing_to_hide" title="Nothing to hide">Nothing to hide</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_fine_tuning" title="Argument from fine tuning">Argument from fine tuning</a> • <a href="/wiki/Creep_shaming" title="Creep shaming">Creep shaming</a> • <a href="/wiki/%22I_used_to_be_an_atheist%22" title=""I used to be an atheist"">"I used to be an atheist"</a> • <a href="/wiki/Atheism_as_a_religion" title="Atheism as a religion">Atheism as a religion</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum" title="Argumentum ad populum">Argumentum ad populum</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_morality" title="Argument from morality">Argument from morality</a> • <a href="/wiki/Anti-environmentalism" title="Anti-environmentalism">Anti-environmentalism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_bias" title="Appeal to bias">Appeal to bias</a> • <a href="/wiki/Apophasis" title="Apophasis">Apophasis</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_nauseam" title="Argumentum ad nauseam">Argumentum ad nauseam</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_censorship" title="Appeal to censorship">Appeal to censorship</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_sarcina_inserta" title="Argumentum ad sarcina inserta">Argumentum ad sarcina inserta</a> • <a href="/wiki/Blaming_the_victim" title="Blaming the victim">Blaming the victim</a> • <a href="/wiki/Bait-and-switch" title="Bait-and-switch">Bait-and-switch</a> • <a href="/wiki/Danth%27s_Law" title="Danth's Law">Danth's Law</a> • <a href="/wiki/Chewbacca_Defense" title="Chewbacca Defense">Chewbacca Defense</a> • <a href="/wiki/Canard" title="Canard">Canard</a> • <a href="/wiki/DARVO" title="DARVO">DARVO</a> • <a href="/wiki/Demonization" title="Demonization">Demonization</a> • <a href="/wiki/Escape_hatch" title="Escape hatch">Escape hatch</a> • <a href="/wiki/Friend_argument" title="Friend argument">Friend argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Everyone_is_racist" title="Everyone is racist">Everyone is racist</a> • <a href="/wiki/Gish_Gallop" title="Gish Gallop">Gish Gallop</a> • <a href="/wiki/Greece-baiting" title="Greece-baiting">Greece-baiting</a> • <a href="/wiki/Gore%27s_Law" title="Gore's Law">Gore's Law</a> • <a href="/wiki/Ham_Hightail" title="Ham Hightail">Ham Hightail</a> • <a href="/wiki/Just_asking_questions" title="Just asking questions">Just asking questions</a> • <a href="/wiki/Leading_question" title="Leading question">Leading question</a> • <a href="/wiki/Loaded_language" title="Loaded language">Loaded language</a> • <a href="/wiki/Linking_to_authority" title="Linking to authority">Linking to authority</a> • <a href="/wiki/Loaded_question" title="Loaded question">Loaded question</a> • <a href="/wiki/Lying_by_omission" title="Lying by omission">Lying by omission</a> • <a href="/wiki/Motte_and_bailey" title="Motte and bailey">Motte and bailey</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nazi_analogies" title="Nazi analogies">Nazi analogies</a> • <a href="/wiki/Moving_the_goalposts" title="Moving the goalposts">Moving the goalposts</a> • <a href="/wiki/One_single_proof" title="One single proof">One single proof</a> • <a href="/wiki/Pink-baiting" title="Pink-baiting">Pink-baiting</a> • <a href="/wiki/One-way_hash_argument" title="One-way hash argument">One-way hash argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Pathos_gambit" title="Pathos gambit">Pathos gambit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Quote_mining" title="Quote mining">Quote mining</a> • <a href="/wiki/Poisoning_the_well" title="Poisoning the well">Poisoning the well</a> • <a href="/wiki/Quidquid_latine_dictum_sit,_altum_videtur" title="Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur">Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur</a> • <a href="/wiki/Race_card" title="Race card">Race card</a> • <a href="/wiki/Red-baiting" title="Red-baiting">Red-baiting</a> • <a href="/wiki/Red_herring" title="Red herring">Red herring</a> • <a href="/wiki/Release_the_data" title="Release the data">Release the data</a> • <a href="/wiki/Shill_gambit" title="Shill gambit">Shill gambit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Straw_man" title="Straw man">Straw man</a> • <a href="/wiki/Silent_Majority" title="Silent Majority">Silent Majority</a> • <a href="/wiki/Uncertainty_tactic" title="Uncertainty tactic">Uncertainty tactic</a> • <a href="/wiki/Style_over_substance" title="Style over substance">Style over substance</a> • <a href="/wiki/Terrorism-baiting" title="Terrorism-baiting">Terrorism-baiting</a> • <a href="/wiki/Weasel_word" title="Weasel word">Weasel word</a> • <a href="/wiki/What%27s_the_harm_(logical_fallacy)" title="What's the harm (logical fallacy)">What's the harm (logical fallacy)</a> • <a href="/wiki/Whataboutism" title="Whataboutism">Whataboutism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Bullshit" title="Bullshit">Bullshit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Logical_fallacy" title="Logical fallacy">Logical fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Banana_argument" title="Banana argument">Banana argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Scapegoat" title="Scapegoat">Scapegoat</a> • <a href="/wiki/How_come_there_are_still_monkeys%3F" title="How come there are still monkeys?">How come there are still monkeys?</a> • <a href="/wiki/Anti-racist_is_a_code_word_for_anti-white" title="Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white">Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white</a> • <a href="/wiki/Ontological_argument" title="Ontological argument">Ontological argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox" title="Omnipotence paradox">Omnipotence paradox</a> • <a href="/wiki/Presuppositionalism" title="Presuppositionalism">Presuppositionalism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Just_a_joke" title="Just a joke">Just a joke</a> • <a href="/wiki/Countless_counterfeits_fallacy" title="Countless counterfeits fallacy">Countless counterfeits fallacy</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" style="background:#009761; width:25%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Conditional_fallacies" title="Category:Conditional fallacies"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Conditional fallacies:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Slippery_slope" title="Slippery slope">Slippery slope</a> • <a href="/wiki/What%27s_the_harm_(logical_fallacy)" title="What's the harm (logical fallacy)">What's the harm (logical fallacy)</a> • <a href="/wiki/Special_pleading" title="Special pleading">Special pleading</a> • <a href="/wiki/Conditional_fallacy" title="Conditional fallacy">Conditional fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/On_the_spot_fallacy" title="On the spot fallacy">On the spot fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_the_minority" title="Appeal to the minority">Appeal to the minority</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum" title="Argumentum ad populum">Argumentum ad populum</a> • <a href="/wiki/Galileo_gambit" title="Galileo gambit">Galileo gambit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Professor_of_nothing" title="Professor of nothing">Professor of nothing</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="2" style="background:#009761; width:20%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Genetic_fallacies" title="Category:Genetic fallacies"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Genetic fallacies:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Genetic_fallacy" title="Genetic fallacy">Genetic fallacy</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="1" style="background:#009761; width:15%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Appeals_to_authority" title="Category:Appeals to authority"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Appeals to authority:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Ipse_dixit" title="Ipse dixit">Ipse dixit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_confidence" title="Appeal to confidence">Appeal to confidence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum" title="Argumentum ad populum">Argumentum ad populum</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_authority" title="Argument from authority">Argument from authority</a> • <a href="/wiki/Linking_to_authority" title="Linking to authority">Linking to authority</a> • <a href="/wiki/Silent_Majority" title="Silent Majority">Silent Majority</a> • <a href="/wiki/Invincible_authority" title="Invincible authority">Invincible authority</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_celebrity" title="Appeal to celebrity">Appeal to celebrity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Ultracrepidarianism" title="Ultracrepidarianism">Ultracrepidarianism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_the_minority" title="Appeal to the minority">Appeal to the minority</a> • <a href="/wiki/Galileo_gambit" title="Galileo gambit">Galileo gambit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_identity" title="Appeal to identity">Appeal to identity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Weasel_word" title="Weasel word">Weasel word</a> • <a href="/wiki/Professor_of_nothing" title="Professor of nothing">Professor of nothing</a> • <a href="/wiki/Euthyphro_dilemma" title="Euthyphro dilemma">Euthyphro dilemma</a> • <a href="/wiki/Divine_command_theory" title="Divine command theory">Divine command theory</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="1" style="background:#009761; width:15%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Ad_hominem" title="Category:Ad hominem"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Ad hominem:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Ad_iram" title="Ad iram">Ad iram</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_cellarium" title="Argumentum ad cellarium">Argumentum ad cellarium</a> • <a href="/wiki/Bulverism" title="Bulverism">Bulverism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Poisoning_the_well" title="Poisoning the well">Poisoning the well</a> • <a href="/wiki/Blaming_the_victim" title="Blaming the victim">Blaming the victim</a> • <a href="/wiki/Tu_quoque" title="Tu quoque">Tu quoque</a> • <a href="/wiki/Whataboutism" title="Whataboutism">Whataboutism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nutpicking" title="Nutpicking">Nutpicking</a> • <a href="/wiki/Jonanism" title="Jonanism">Jonanism</a> • <a href="/wiki/Demonization" title="Demonization">Demonization</a> • <a href="/wiki/Shill_gambit" title="Shill gambit">Shill gambit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_bias" title="Appeal to bias">Appeal to bias</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_opposition" title="Fallacy of opposition">Fallacy of opposition</a> • <a href="/wiki/Association_fallacy" title="Association fallacy">Association fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Damning_with_faint_praise" title="Damning with faint praise">Damning with faint praise</a> • <a href="/wiki/Pathos_gambit" title="Pathos gambit">Pathos gambit</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_identity" title="Appeal to identity">Appeal to identity</a> • <a href="/wiki/Argumentum_ad_hominem" title="Argumentum ad hominem">Argumentum ad hominem</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nazi_analogies" title="Nazi analogies">Nazi analogies</a> • <a href="/wiki/Not_an_argument" title="Not an argument">Not an argument</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nothing_to_hide" title="Nothing to hide">Nothing to hide</a> • <a href="/wiki/Scapegoat" title="Scapegoat">Scapegoat</a> • <a href="/wiki/%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%8B%E5%AE%A4%E8%AE%BA%E8%AF%81" title="地下室论证">地下室论证</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td style="width:5%;">  </td> <td colspan="2" style="background:#009761; width:20%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Imprecision_fallacies" title="Category:Imprecision fallacies"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Imprecision fallacies:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Apex_fallacy" title="Apex fallacy">Apex fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Overprecision" title="Overprecision">Overprecision</a> • <a href="/wiki/Cherry_picking" title="Cherry picking">Cherry picking</a> • <a href="/wiki/Overgeneralization" title="Overgeneralization">Overgeneralization</a> • <a href="/wiki/Texas_sharpshooter_fallacy" title="Texas sharpshooter fallacy">Texas sharpshooter fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/False_analogy" title="False analogy">False analogy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_fiction" title="Appeal to fiction">Appeal to fiction</a> • <a href="/wiki/Spotlight_fallacy" title="Spotlight fallacy">Spotlight fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Pragmatic_fallacy" title="Pragmatic fallacy">Pragmatic fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Selection_bias" title="Selection bias">Selection bias</a> • <a href="/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence" title="Anecdotal evidence">Anecdotal evidence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Category_mistake" title="Category mistake">Category mistake</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nutpicking" title="Nutpicking">Nutpicking</a> • <a href="/wiki/Imprecision_fallacy" title="Imprecision fallacy">Imprecision fallacy</a> • <a href="/wiki/Confounding_factor" title="Confounding factor">Confounding factor</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_of_accident" title="Fallacy of accident">Fallacy of accident</a> • <a href="/wiki/Neyman%27s_bias" title="Neyman's bias">Neyman's bias</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" style="background:#009761; width:25%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Valid_logical_methods" title="Category:Valid logical methods"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Valid logical methods:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/Rapoport%27s_Rules" title="Rapoport's Rules">Rapoport's Rules</a> • <a href="/wiki/Negative_evidence" title="Negative evidence">Negative evidence</a> • <a href="/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum" title="Reductio ad absurdum">Reductio ad absurdum</a> • </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" style="background:#009761; width:25%; text-align:right;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Fallacy_collections" title="Category:Fallacy collections"><span style="color:white; font-size:125%">Fallacy collections:</span></a></b> </td> <td style="background:#FFFFFF;"> <a href="/wiki/SeekFind" title="SeekFind">SeekFind</a> • <a href="/wiki/Nizkor_Project" title="Nizkor Project">Nizkor Project</a> • <a href="/wiki/Fallacy_Files" title="Fallacy Files">Fallacy Files</a> • <a href="/wiki/Your_Logical_Fallacy_Is" title="Your Logical Fallacy Is">Your Logical Fallacy Is</a> • <a href="/wiki/Logically_Fallacious" title="Logically Fallacious">Logically Fallacious</a> • </td></tr> </tbody></table> </div>    </div></div><div class="printfooter">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&oldid=2700351">https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Science_was_wrong_before&oldid=2700351</a>"</div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" 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