argumentum ad populum
English
Etymology
Latin: argūmentum (“argument”, “proof”) + ad (“to”, “toward”) + populum (accusative singular of populus, “people”, “nation”) ≈ “appeal to the people”
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /aɹ.ɡuːˈmen.tum ad ˈpo.pu.lum/, [aɹ.ɡuːˈmen.tũ ad ˈpo.pu.lũ]
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ärgyo͞omĕnʹtəm ăd pŏʹpyo͝oləm, IPA(key): /ɑːɡjuːˈmɛntəm æd ˈpɒpjʊləm/
Noun
argumentum ad populum (plural argumenta ad populum)
- (rhetoric) A fallacious argument that concludes a proposition to be true because many or all people believe it; it alleges that “if many believe so, it is so”.
- 2001, Martin Reisigl and Ruth Wodak, Discourse and Discrimination: Rhetorics of Racism and Antisemitism, page 166:
- The appeals to the public were also expressed differently: that is to say, much less by fallacious argumenta ad populum that played on the fears of the addressees, than by an appeal to rational insights, humanity and democracy.
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Synonyms
- (“if many believe so, it is so”): argumentum ad numerum, bandwagon fallacy
Translations
fallacious argument
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