Fallacy: Appeal to Consequences of a Belief
Includes: Wishful Thinking
The Appeal to the Consequences of a Belief is a fallacy that comes in
the following patterns:
This line of "reasoning" is fallacious because the
consequences of a belief have no bearing on whether the belief is true
or false. For example, if someone were to say "If sixteen-headed
purple unicorns don't exist, then I would be miserable, so they must
exist" it would be clear that this would not be a good line of
reasoning. It is important to note that the consequences in question are
the consequences that stem from the belief. It is important to
distinguish between a rational reason to believe (RRB) (evidence) and a
prudential reason to believe (PRB) (motivation). A RRB is evidence that
objectively and logically supports the claim. A PRB is a reason to
accept the belief because of some external factor (such as fear, a
threat, or a benefit or harm that may stem from the belief) that is
relevant to what a person values but is not relevant to the truth or
falsity of the claim.
The nature of the fallacy is especially clear in the case of Wishful
thinking. Obviously, merely wishing that something is true does not make
it true. This fallacy differs from the
Appeal to Belief
fallacy in that the
Appeal to Belief
involves taking a claim that most people believe that X is true to be
evidence for X being true.
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Description of Appeal to Consequences of a Belief
Examples of Appeal to Consequences of a Belief