Equivocation

Equivocation is a logical fallacy that involves taking a word with more than one definition and freely substituting one definition for another.

For example:

"A feather is light. Therefore, a feather cannot be dark."

• There are two meanings of the word light. The first sentence assumes a meaning that is the opposite of heavy, not the opposite of dark.

This fallacy is used frequently in the service of apologetics arguments. A few relevant examples:

1. Atheism is based on faith.
   • There are multiple meanings of the word faith.
2. "No true Scotsman" fallacy.
   • When someone says, "That person wasn't really a Christian because he did that," they are relying on ambiguity in the word Christian and redefining it to suit their needs.
3. The existence of laws implies a law-giver.
   • This stems from a confusion between natural laws and legal laws.
4. Evolution is only a theory.
   • This plays on the confusion between the scientific and colloquial definitions of the word theory.

External Links

• Fallacy files