Knowledge Fallacies

Various fallacies and misconceptions about what one knows or can know, and what constitutes knowledge in the first place. Also referred to as “epistemic” or “epistemological” fallacies.

Fallacy of eliminative induction / Sherlock-Holmes Fallacy

A probable explanation that was established by a process of inductive elimination is (erroneously) understood as deductively true.

Ecological fallacy

A fallacious inference in which a statistical characteristic is inadmissibly transferred to a level of aggregation lower than that which it actually describes.

(Dogmatic) Coherentism

A situation in which statements or beliefs are evaluated primarily based on whether they fit into an existing system of ideas, a worldview, or a narrative – rather than on whether they correspond to reality.

Continuum fallacy

The (erroneous) rejection of categorizations on the grounds that the variations described can also be described as a continuum.

Epistemic fallacy

The (wrong) assumtion that the existence of a thing or a situation automatically implies its knowledge or the possibility of knowing it.

This section is still under construction.