What is the willfully ignorant fallacy?
Asked by: Bernadette Ferry | Last update: December 17, 2025Score: 4.7/5 (30 votes)
Argument from Ignorance (Ad Ignorantium) - the assumption of a conclusion or fact-based primarily on lack of evidence to the contrary. Usually best described by, "absence of evidence of not evidence of absence"
What is the willful ignorance fallacy?
This fallacy occurs when you argue that your conclusion must be true, because there is no evidence against it. This fallacy wrongly shifts the burden of proof away from the one making the claim.
What is an example of willful ignorance?
The paradigmatic example is that of a person at an airport who is asked by a stranger to take a suitcase filled with drugs. If the person does not know the contents of the suitcase but agrees to take it without checking the contents, that person is said to be willfully ignorant but criminally liable.
What is an example of deliberate ignorance fallacy?
The appeal to ignorance fallacy is the logical fallacy of claiming that a statement must be true because there's no evidence against it. It can look like this: There are ghosts in our attic; nobody's been able to prove they aren't there. Masha's doing a great job as team captain since nobody complained about her.
What do you call someone who is willfully ignorant?
apprenticed, benighted, birdbrained, blind to, cretinous, dense, green, imbecilic, in the dark, inexperienced, insensible, mindless, misinformed, moronic, nescient, shallow, thick, unconscious, unconversant, uncultivated, uncultured, unenlightened, uninitiated, unintellectual, unknowledgeable, unlearned, unlettered, ...
Argument from Ignorance - Super 8 example - Fallacious Trump e17
Is willful ignorance illegal?
Courts routinely allow willful ignorance to substitute for knowledge. The willfully ignorant may be punished as if they actually had the knowledge required for the crime.
Why do people choose to be willfully ignorant?
The researchers hypothesized that one reason for willful ignorance might be that some people behave altruistically because they want to maintain a positive self-image of being an altruistic person. In those cases, willful ignorance can allow them to maintain that self-image without having to act in an altruistic way.
What is the red herring fallacy?
This fallacy consists in diverting attention from the real issue by focusing instead on an issue having only a surface relevance to the first.
What is an example of an argument from ignorance fallacy?
Appeal to Ignorance Examples
There is no proof that God does not exist; therefore, God exists. No one has ever proven UFOs have not visited the planet, which means they have. Since the class has no questions concerning the topics discussed in class; therefore, the class must be ready for the test.
What is the ad populum fallacy?
Ad populum fallacy refers to a claim that something is true simply because that's what a large number of people believe. In other words, if many people believe something to be true, then it must be true.
Where in the Bible does it say they are willingly ignorant?
2 Peter 3:5 In-Context
5 For of this they are willfully ignorant: that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, 6 whereby the world as it then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
What is a famous quote about ignorance?
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
What does the Bible say about willful ignorance?
Romans 5:14
The offense committed in ignorance or in willful ignorance is just as abominable as one done with knowledge.
Is gaslighting a fallacy?
This is called an ad hominem logical fallacy, and it's so characteristic of abuse, it's often just called 'personal abuse. ' You could even say that gaslighting is simply a veiled ad hominem attack, and that resisting makes a manipulator show their true colors.
What is the fallacy of the boogeyman?
Making up a non-starter argument or position defense based on a cheap, weak argument that the opposing viewpoint doesn't actually present or defend. Think of it as a type of boogeyman: it isn't real, it's a false threat, and it holds no actual meaning.
Is cherry picking a logical fallacy?
Some scholars classify cherry-picking as a fallacy of selective attention, the most common example of which is the confirmation bias. Cherry picking can refer to the selection of data or data sets so a study or survey will give desired, predictable results which may be misleading or even completely contrary to reality.
What is a non-sequitur fallacy?
A non sequitur fallacy is a statement or conclusion that does not follow logically from what preceded it. Non sequiturs can be responses that have nothing to do with the conversation or flawed conclusions “based” on what preceded them.
What is the god argument of ignorance?
Therefore, when one of the strangers argues that the lack of evidence of a deity proves that God does not exist, they are making a fallacious argument called an argument from ignorance.
What is the Black Swan logical fallacy?
The “black swan fallacy” is an unfortunate name for a refusal to consider evidence that contradicts one's belief, or to believe something that one hasn't seen or experienced for oneself.
What is a straw man logical fallacy?
Straw man fallacy is the distortion of someone else's argument to make it easier to attack or refute. Instead of addressing the actual argument of the opponent, one may present a somewhat similar but not equal argument.
What is the post-hawk fallacy?
Post hoc fallacy, or false cause fallacy, is an argument that draws the conclusion that one event is directly caused by another event without evidence to prove this. The conclusion suggests a cause and effect relationship between two events, or one event or thing causing a specific effect.
What is the false dichotomy fallacy?
False dilemma fallacy is also known as false dichotomy, false binary, and “either-or” fallacy. It is the fallacy of presenting only two choices, outcomes, or sides to an argument as the only possibilities, when more are available.
What is a word for willfully ignorant?
Willful ignorance is sometimes called willful blindness, contrived ignorance, conscious avoidance, intentional ignorance, or Nelsonian knowledge.
What is the problem with willful ignorance?
In essence, wilful ignorance is corrosive at both the individual and societal level - it compromises personal integrity while enabling harmful practices that undermine ethical conduct, accountability and positive change.
What percentage of people are altruistic?
But we also found that about 40 percent of people are altruistic: rather than avoiding information about the consequences of their actions, they seek it out to increase the benefits to others. In our analysis, we used data from 22 previously published studies on willful ignorance.