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Fallacies of Ambiguity

Fallacies of Ambiguity involve some confusion over meaning. Interpreted in one way the argument has a false major premiss, while interpreted in the other way the argument has a false minor premiss. (If we try to interpret both premisses so that they are true, then the "argument" fails to be formally valid.) Here is an obvious example:

          All beetles have six legs.
          John Lennon is a Beatle.
          Hence, John Lennon has six legs.

Since the location of the fallacy is a matter of interpretation, we cannot classify the argument either as a major-premiss fallacy or as a minor-premiss fallacy. Hence such fallacies get their own group.

 

The fallacies in the Ambiguities category are...

   Equivocation

   Amphiboly

   Distributive Fallacy
        a. Composition
        b. Division

 

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