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straw man

 
Dictionary: straw man
 

n.
  1. A person who is set up as a cover or front for a questionable enterprise.
  2. An argument or opponent set up so as to be easily refuted or defeated.
  3. A bundle of straw made into the likeness of a man and often used as a scarecrow.

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Philosophy Dictionary: straw man
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To argue against a straw man is to interpret someone's position in an unfairly weak way, and so argue against a position that nobody holds, or is likely to hold.

 
Law Dictionary: Straw Man [Person]
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A colloquial expression designating those arguments in briefs or opinions created solely for the purpose of debunking or "discovering" them. Arguments so created are like "straw men" because they are, by nature, insubstantial.

The term is also sometimes referred to in commercial and property contexts when a transfer is made to a third party, the straw man [person], simply for the purpose of retransfering to the transferor in order to accomplish some purpose not otherwise permitted. Thus, if a covenant running with the land must be included in the deed in the jurisdiction, such a covenant can be established subsequently by conveying the property to a straw man [person] and obtaining from this person a new grant with the desired convenant now in the deed. See dummy.

 
WordNet: straw man
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: a person used as a cover for some questionable activity
  Synonyms: front man, front, figurehead, nominal head

Meaning #2: a weak argument set up to be easily refuted


 
Wikipedia: Straw man
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A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position.[1] To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar proposition (the "straw man"), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.[1] [2]

Presenting and refuting a weakened form of an opponent's argument can be a part of a valid argument. For example, one can argue that the opposing position implies that at least one of two other statements - both being presumably easier to refute than the original position - must be true. If one refutes both of these weaker propositions, the refutation is valid and does not fit the above definition of a "straw man" argument.

Contents

Origin

The origins of the term are unclear; one common (folk) etymology given is that it originated with men who stood outside of courthouses with a straw in their shoe in order to indicate their willingness to be a false witness. [3] [4] Another is that a man made of straw, such as those used in military training, is easy to attack. Attacking a straw man can give the illusion of a strong attack or good argument. In the UK, it is sometimes called Aunt Sally, with reference to a traditional fairground game.

Reasoning

The straw man fallacy occurs in the following pattern:

1. Person A has position X.

2. Person B disregards certain key points of X and instead presents position Y.
Thus, Y is a resulting distorted version of X and can be set up in several ways, including:

  1. Presenting a misrepresentation of the opponent's position and then refuting it, thus giving the appearance that the opponent's actual position has been refuted.[1]
  2. Quoting an opponent's words out of context — i.e. choosing quotations which are intentionally misrepresentative of the opponent's actual intentions (see contextomy and quote mining).[2]
  3. Presenting someone who defends a position poorly as the defender, then refuting that person's arguments - thus giving the appearance that every upholder of that position (and thus the position itself) has been defeated.[1]
  4. Inventing a fictitious persona with actions or beliefs which are then criticized, implying that the person represents a group of whom the speaker is critical.
  5. Oversimplifying an opponent's argument, then attacking this oversimplified version.

3. Person B attacks position Y, concluding that X is false/incorrect/flawed.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious, because attacking a distorted version of a position fails to constitute an attack on the actual position.

Examples

Straw man arguments often arise in public debates even when less flawed arguments could be found to support the same position.

Person A: We should liberalize the laws on beer.
Person B: No, any society with unrestricted access to intoxicants loses its work ethic and goes only for immediate gratification.

(The proposal was to relax laws on beer. Person B has exaggerated this to a position harder to defend, i.e., "unrestricted access to intoxicants").[1]

  • Political debate:
Person A: The war in Iraq is wrong.
Person B: You cannot convince me that liberty is a bad thing.

(B has equated A's opposition to the war as an opposition to liberty which is easier to defeat).

  • A beach debate:
Person A: Nude bathing is healthy, and nude beaches should be permitted here.
Person B: No, that kind of free sex threatens the morality of society.

(B has misrepresented A's position as a call for sexual promiscuity, not nudity, which is what Person A called for. The escalation from nudity to sexual promiscuity makes the argument easier to defeat).

Person A: We should have universal healthcare.
Person B: No, because only communists believe in universal healthcare and communist countries are typically poor, which we don't want to become.

(B has falsely identified A as a communist and then refuted communism).

Person A: School uniforms are good for keeping students properly dressed for school, making them easier to keep track of on field trips, and ease early-morning conflict with students trying to decide what to wear.
Person B: That's a great idea... if you're a Hitler-lover. You know, Nazis had school uniforms, too.

(B has equated A's idea with Nazism). This is also an example of Godwin's Law.

Debating around a straw man

Strictly speaking, there are three ways to deal with a straw man setup.

1. Using the terms of the straw man and refuting the theory itself: Beach debate: There is no threat to morality with "free" sex. Sex for purposes other than procreation is something that shouldn't be tied to morality, shame, or guilt. (Note: A weakness of this retort is that agreeing to use the terminology of the opponent may deflect the debate to a secondary one about the opponent's assumptions).

2. Clarifying the original theory: I said evolution should be taught, not that I disbelieve in God. This may involve explicitly pointing out the straw man.

3. Questioning the disputation Why could it not have been created by random chance?. See also Debate

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Pirie, Madsen (2007). How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic. UK: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8264-9894-6. 
  2. ^ a b "The Straw Man Fallacy". Fallacy Files. http://www.fallacyfiles.org/strawman.html. Retrieved on 12 October 2007. 
  3. ^ "Idioms around the world". http://disted.tamu.edu/classes/telecom98s/eva/week2.htm. Retrieved on 13 May 2009. 
  4. ^ "E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898". http://www.bartleby.com/81/10919.html. Retrieved on 13 May 2009. 

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Philosophy Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Law Dictionary. Law Dictionary. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Straw man" Read more

 

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