Appeal to emotion or argumentum ad passiones (meaning the same in Latin) is an informal fallacy characterized by the manipulation of the recipient's emotions in order to win an argument, especially in the absence of factual evidence.[1] This kind of appeal to emotion is irrelevant to or distracting from the facts of the argument (a so-called "red herring") and encompasses several logical fallacies, including appeal to consequences, appeal to fear, appeal to flattery, appeal to pity, appeal to ridicule, appeal to spite, and wishful thinking.
Appeal to emotion is an application of social psychology. It is only fallacious when the emotions that are elicited are irrelevant to evaluating the truth of the conclusion and serve to distract from rational consideration of relevant premises or information. For instance, if a student says "If I get a failing grade for this paper I will lose my scholarship. It's not plagiarized." the emotions elicited by the first statement are not relevant to establishing whether the paper was plagiarized. Also, the statement "Look at the suffering children. We must do more for refugees." is fallacious, because the suffering of the children and our emotional perception of the badness of suffering is not relevant to the conclusion (to be sure, the proper role, if any, for emotion in moral reasoning is a contested issue in ethics).
Appeals to emotion are intended to cause the recipient of the information to experience feelings such as fear, pity, or joy, with the end goal of convincing the person that the statements being presented by the fallacious argument are true or false, respectively.
^Labossiere, Michael C. "Fallacy: Appeal to Emotion". Nizkor Project. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
Appealtoemotion or argumentum ad passiones (meaning the same in Latin) is an informal fallacy characterized by the manipulation of the recipient's emotions...
feelings of pity or guilt. It is a specific kind of appealtoemotion. The name "Galileo argument" refers to the scientist's suffering as a result of his house...
or position, attempting to inspire a strong emotional reaction (making it a type of appealtoemotion) in the audience and to highlight any counter-intuitive...
Appealto tradition (also known as argumentum ad antiquitatem or argumentum ad antiquitam, appealto antiquity, or appealto common practice) is a claim...
belief) to be either true or false based on whether the premise leads to desirable or undesirable consequences. This is based on an appealtoemotion and...
Therefore, P is true. The argument is invalid. The appealtoemotion is used in exploiting existing fears to create support for the speaker's proposal, namely...
purpose of emotion dates back to Charles Darwin. Current areas of research include the neuroscience of emotion, using tools like PET and fMRI scans to study...
attempt to distract from the initial discussion. Appealtoemotion – manipulating the emotions of the listener rather than using valid reasoning to obtain...
may be useful when responding to a statement that itself does not have rational content, such as an appealtoemotion. The notion of tone policing became...
black art of obscurantism is not that it wants to darken individual understanding, but that it wants to blacken our picture of the world, and darken our...
detected in children as young as 24 months and may be an important social emotion establishing "inequity aversion". Schadenfreude is a term borrowed from...
an appealto popular opinion itself, as an attempt to rouse the "emotions and enthusiasms of the multitude". Douglas N. Walton argues that appealsto popular...
Greek: πάθος, romanized: páthos, lit. 'suffering or experience') appealsto the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside...
The appealto novelty (also called appealto modernity or argumentum ad novitatem) is a fallacy in which one prematurely claims that an idea or proposal...
highly valued concepts attract general approval and acclaim. Their appeal is toemotions such as love of country and home, and desire for peace, freedom...
refers to the first-hand involvement or direct experiences and choices of a given person, and the knowledge that they gain from it, as opposed to the knowledge...
They are critical for the production of emotion. They are known to be very important for negative emotions, especially fear. Amygdala activation often...
it refers to children's rights (as in discussions of child labor). In debate, it is a plea for pity that is used as an appealtoemotion, and therefore...
criticized, both as an example of a fallacious appealtoemotion and for an underlying premise which seems to reject rationalism. Although mainstream science...
The appealto loyalty is a logical fallacy committed when the premise of an argument uses a perceived need for loyalty of some sort to distract from the...
generate a value judgement that can lead to an emotion. The appealtoemotion is in contrast to an appealto logic and reason. Authors R. Malcolm Murray...
Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Pathetic may refer to: Pathos, the rhetorical appealtoemotion The pathetic fallacy, an over-personification of inanimate...
scorns any appealtoemotion. Pan disappears, leaving a note saying "Gone to look for your imagination". Distraught, Lyra guesses that Pan may go to the Blue...
between two people with both playing a part. Abusive power and control Appealtoemotion Codependency Coercive persuasion Double bind Family nexus Guilt trip...
and mental agony. Borderline patients may feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, experiencing intense grief instead of sadness, shame and humiliation instead...
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