No true Scotsman

" No true Scotsman " is a term of Antony Flew published in his 1975 book Thinking About Thinking was introduced. In principle, it is stated here that the lack of ( social, legislative or scientific) may result accepted definition for the subject of a thesis to a fallacy. Flew refers to an argument that takes the following form:

This form of argument is a fallacy, as the amount (in this case Scottish ) was based on the supposition is redefined in the conclusion ( here true Scots ) ( here as a subset ).

In contrast, for example, " No true vegetarian would eat one steak " no deception, because it is apparent from the accepted definition of a vegetarian.

In particular, representatives of religions are often burdened with applying these fallacies when they say that no true member of their religion would do anything in particular. According to Flew, there are so many different interpretations of a religion that the behavior has a low importance. If there is no accepted definition of the subject, the initial argument should be accepted as the definition for the discussion.

It is also a common fallacy in politics, though critics condemn their comrades as no true socialists or conservatives just because they sometimes contradict with political issues.

Swell

• Philosophical logic
• Dummy argument