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Existential fallacy
1 reference results for: Existential fallacy
Wikipedia
The existential fallacy, or existential instantiation, is a logical fallacy committed in a categorical syllogism that is invalid because it has two universal premises and a particular conclusion. In other words, for the conclusion to be true, at least one member of the class must exist, but the premises do not establish this.

Example:

  • All inhabitants of other planets are friendly, and all Martians are inhabitants of another planet. Therefore, some Martians are friendly. (The conclusion assumes there really are some Martians in existence.)
  • All unicorns are animals, therefore some animals are unicorns. (This conclusion assumes that unicorns exist.)

The existential fallacy is a syllogistic fallacy. Modern logical constructs, however, allow for conditional logic ("If unicorns existed...")

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