Fallacies of Ambiguity
Index of Fallacies
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With these fallacies, some sort of ambiguity is introduced either in the premises or in the conclusion itself. This way, an apparently false idea can be made to appear true so long as the reader does not notice the problematic definitions.
It is because of these fallacies that getting clear definitions of key terms is often very important. People discussing a matter while using different or even incompatible definitions will often just end up talking past each other, creating misunderstandings, hard feelings, and ultimately not accomplishing very much.
Of course, some ambiguity is unavoidable in any discussion, since many common words have multiple meanings. It is therefore important to keep in mind that the mere existence of some level of ambiguity is not enough to render an argument fallacious - otherwise just about all arguments would be fallacious.
Instead, we must here focus upon ambiguity which creates important changes in the meaning of the thoughts being conveyed. If changing the meaning of a word leads to a conclusion unsupported by a premise using an earlier meaning, then we have a fallacy of ambiguity. If the scope of modifiers changes when moving from the premise to the conclusion, then we have a different fallacy of ambiguity.
-->Accent
Amphiboly
Equivocation
No True Scotsman
Illicit Observation
Scope Fallacy
Quantifier Fallacy
Quoting out of Context
Reification / Hypostatization
