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Appeal to Consequences
(argumentum ad consequentiam) | The author points to the disagreeable consequences of holding a particular belief in order to show that this belief is false. |
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| Example: | |
| (i) You can't agree that evolution is true, because if it were, then we would be no better than monkeys and apes. | |
| (ii) You must believe in God, for otherwise life would have no meaning. (Perhaps, but it is equally possible that since life has no meaning that God does not exist.) | |
| Proof: | |
| Identify the consequences to and argue that what we want to be the case does not affect what is in fact the case. | |