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Appeal to pity

 

Appeal to pity

An appeal to pity (also called argumentum ad misericordiam) is a logical fallacy in which someone tries to win support for their argument or idea by exploiting their opponent's feelings of pity or guilt.

The appeal to pity is a specific kind of appeal to emotion.

Examples

  • "I hope you like my proposal. It took me six years to write and I don't know what I'd do if you reject it.""Look at that poor homeless kitty. I bet it hasn't eaten in days. You should adopt it."

These examples are not necessarily false, they could be true. However, to prove a statement you need to use correct thinking, not a fallacy. See argument from fallacy.

As with all logical fallacies, these ideas aren't necessarily untrue; they just aren't true for the reason stated.



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