argumentum ad crumenam
English
Etymology
Latin
Noun
argumentum ad crumenam (plural argumenta ad crumenam)
- (rhetoric) The logical fallacy of concluding that a proposition is correct because the person advancing it is rich.
- 1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman:
- That it be known and distinguished by the name and title of the Argumentum Fistulatorium, and no other;—and that it rank here∣after with the Argumentum Baculinum, and the Argumentum ad Crumenam, and for ever hereafter be treated of in the same chapter.
- 1908 December 19, “An Unsavoury Bait”, in The British Medical Journal, volume 2, number 2503, JSTOR 25280236, page 1832:
- The argumentum ad crumenam, however, is understood wherever there are pockets to appeal to, and even where there are none.
- 1991 April 12, Philip Howard, “Rhetoric and All That Rot”, in The Times, London:
- An electioneering budget is an argumentum ad crumenam, and most elections in democracies have a strong element of this old argument.
- 2005 January 19, Jason Long, Biblical Nonsense: A Review of the Bible for Doubting Christians, Lincoln, IN: iUniverse, →ISBN, OL 7556591M, page 25:
- Because this rich individual obviously made many correct choices in life, his belief in Jesus, according to the apologist, only makes sense. We call such a ridiculous proposal argumentum ad crumenam, an argument based on wealth.
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Synonyms
- argument to the purse
Antonyms
- argumentum ad Lazarum
See also
- Worthington's law (humorous)
References
- Philosophical Society - logical fallacies