sophism
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈsɑːfɪzəm/
- Formal
:
sofisma
- His argument was nothing more than a clever sophism designed to sway public opinion.
And Descartes will say that, you know, there's actually a sophism contained in this objection that we're making.
- And Descartes will say that, you know, there's actually a sophism contained in this objection that we're making.
- We can maybe carry that out in our thought, but a lot of that is going to be sophisms.
- They concentrate upon the third, upon arguments, syllogisms, hypothetical premises and sophisms.
Examples
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Against the supposed sophism, the critics reminded their listeners that all nouns have only metaphoric value.
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And Descartes will say that, you know, there's actually a sophism contained in this objection that we're making.
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I am amazed that such an able man could have based so much on such a flimsy sophism....
Academic text (1998) -
Liberals are the ones who engage in such sophism, not conservatives.
Blog text (20) -
As he explains in the Special Message, it is a sophism to suppose that any state may withdraw from the Union without the consent of the other states, thus making itself the sole judge of equity toward the Union.
Academic text (2001) -
Commenting on this unusual narrative conclusion, he adds: "I knew that the immortality I had conferred on the poor fellow was a slippery sophism, a play upon words."
Academic text (2016) -
It is a silly sophism and thoroughly indecent to maintain that what the state collects it spends, and that therefore there is no lowering of total purchasing power.
Blog text (32) -
The pernicious results of this matrix of philosophical ideas strike far beyond Christianity: "Here we have an immense structure of sophisms which ruin and wreck all religion" (no. 12).
Academic text (2007) -
He must mindfully train himself to perceive the difference between wild dreams and rational aspirations, to know when to act courageously and when to walk away, and to distinguish between philosophy, rhetoric, religion, sophism, and paid political advertising.
Fiction book (2000) -
But Southern statesmen have come to credit the sophism; and like their attachment to slavery, the thought of the separate rights of states has become a habit rendered familiar by reiteration, whose effects are visible only when it is too late: "With rebellion thus sugarcoated, they have been drugging the public mind of their section for more than thirty years."
Academic text (2001)
Synonyms
7
9.8
Use of clever but false arguments to trick people
2
8.4
Using clever but false arguments to mislead people
1
8.5
A reason that seems good but is actually wrong
1
9.9
Using clever but wrong reasoning to avoid giving a clear answer
Antonyms
How Deceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
sophism = soph + ism
The element 'soph' is not a standalone English word and the modern meaning ('a fallacious argument') cannot be transparently derived by an average B1 learner from the components; the term is a learned borrowing.
Etymology
Sophism comes from the Greek root soph- meaning 'wise' and is the same root you see in philosophy ('love of wisdom'). It once named a clever argument, but now it usually means a clever-sounding 'trick' or false argument used to deceive.