| As Far As Anyone Knows |
As Far As Anyone Knows FallacyWhenever a logical fallacy is committed, the fallacy has its roots in Agrippa's trilemma. All human thought (without Divine revelation) is based on one of three unhappy possibilities. These three possibilities are infinite regression, circular reasoning, or axiomatic thinking. This is known as Agrippa's trilemma. Some have claimed that only logic and math can be known; however, that is not true. Without Divine revelation, neither logic nor math can be known. Science is limited only to pragmatic thinking because of the weakness of human reasoning, which is known as Agrippa's trilemma. The "as far as anyone knows" fallacy, a form of axiomatic thinking, is one of these three unhappy possibilities. The "As Far As Anyone Knows" Fallacy occurs when the phrase (or equivalent) is used to present a premise on which a conclusion will be based. This is very similar to the best in field fallacy except that it assumes personal omniscience. It assumes that the person guilty of the fallacy is fully aware of what everyone in the world knows. That being said, it is a silly thing to say, but people get used to saying silly things. As with many claims, a good question would be, “How do you know that to be true?” Then just keep asking until you either get to something solid or you find out that the phrase is just being used as a figure of speech that means nothing. Examples of the As Far As Anyone Knows Fallacy
How about saying, “As far as I know.” That would be more accurate.
When you say "we," do you mean all doctors?
How can we know anything about anything? That’s the real question |
Other Pages in this sectionIpse Dixit Unsupported Assertion Secret Knowledge Allness Fallacy Autistic Certainty Lie Big Lie Outright Lie Bold-Faced Lie Appeal to Confidence Hypothesis Contrary to Fact False Prophecy Argument to the Future Escape Via Ignorance Argumentum Ex Culo Blind Authority False Accusation Argument from Omniscience Universal Negative Proving a Negative Claim of Unknowables Presupposition Irrelevant Purpose Propositional Fallacy Thompson Invisibility Syndrome Presumption Grammatical Presupposition Arbitrary Thinking Reversible Logic Floating Abstraction Implied Lie Spiritual Fallacy Feigned Powerlessness Pious Fraud False Open-Mindedness Recently Viewed |
