Hello and welcome everyone to a new installment of Logical Fallacies Bootcamp! I think I’ll skip the usual intro and just tell folks that if you’re late in coming to this series or if you want to refresh your memory, links to past installments are at the bottom of the page!
With that out of the way, let’s jump right in.
Today’s Fallacy: Appeal to Ignorance (aka Argument from Ignorance).
This little gem is a very common fallacy in conspiracy theory circles. In it’s essence, it’s an argument that something must be true because it hasn’t been proven to be false.
Conspiracy theorist love this one because it essentially tries to put the other side in the position of “proving a negative.” Here’s a common use of it:
“No one has proven/there is no evidence that Bigfoot/the Loch Ness Monster/UFOs/the Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist, therefore it/they must be real.”
The fallacy of this, of course, is that it assumes that a lack of proof against their position therefore means their position must therefore be true. But how do you prove that something doesn’t exist? Yes, there are a lot of arguments against these things (for UFOs, the idea that interstellar travel might be physically impossible, for example, or so prohibitively difficult that why would another civilization waste the technology to come buzz some poor sod who then just takes a blurry long distance photo of the craft?). But, as logical as some of those arguments are, actual proof is lacking, and that’s where the conspiracy theorists live. The Appeal to Ignorance allows them to handwave away arguments against their position, no matter how logical or well argued.
This tactic is often used to try to push the burden of proof onto the user’s opponent.
And also, proof may well exist, but the user refuses to acknowledge it’s validity in order to bolster their own claim.
The problem for the conspiracy theorists is often their own argument can be turned on its head against them, as in
Conspiracy theorist: No one has ever proven that UFO’s don’t exist, therefore they must be real.
Opponent: No one has ever proven UFOs DO exist, therefore they must NOT be real.
Whoops.
And then there is the oft-stated idiom, “No news is good news.” Well, no. An absence of news is just an absence of news. The absence of news, could be good, bad, or neutral, depending on the situation.
Here’s another:
“The fact that the Clintons have never been arrested for any crimes just proves what criminal masterminds they are!”
But her eeeeeeeemails, amirite? How many Clinton based conspiracy theories have we heard over the last 30 years?
“The fact that no Democrats have been prosecuted for sacrificing and eating babies in the basement of Comet Ping Pong just proves how deep the conspiracy goes!”
Uh...do I really need to get into this one? Let’s just say the Q conspiracies are chock full of Appeals to Ignorance, using lack of proof as proof of just how widespread and deep the alleged evil goes in our society how complete their control is to hide the proof.
On that note, maybe I’ll go rewatch some X-Files and call it a night.
Next time on Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: The Sunk Cost Fallacy!
P.S. — by the time you read this, I will hopefully be off the operating table (unless something has gone awry) and safely ensconced in a hospital room somewhere after some pretty major cancer surgery. So don’t be surprised if I don’t respond to comments — I’m likely otherwise indisposed, having just recently having some nontrivial sections of my digestive tract and bits of my liver removed, as well as my gall bladder and a couple of suspicious lymph nodes. Hopefully you’ll hear from me soon, though, although I already have the Sunk Cost Fallacy spooled up for Friday just in case. And, well, just in case the surgeons accidentally manage to hit my off switch during surgery — it’s been a genuine pleasure, folks.
Stay curious.
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp is a twice weekly series with posts dropping on Wednesdays and Fridays. A companion series, Cognitive Bias Bootcamp, drops on Mondays. If you are new to the series and would like to catch up on past offerings of either, or just want to revisit them, the linked titles are listed below!
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp:
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: The Strawman
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: The Slippery Slope
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: Begging the Question
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: Poisoning the Well
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: No True Scotsman!
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: Ad Hominem
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: False Dilemma
Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: Non Sequitur
Cognitive Bias Bootcamp:
Cognitive Bias Bootcamp: Bystander Effect
Cognitive Bias Bootcamp: Curse of Knowledge