What is the ‘No True Scotsman’ Fallacy?

Understanding and Identifying Logical Fallacies in Online Political Discourse

The “No True Scotsman” fallacy is a logical fallacy often encountered in debates and discussions, particularly in the context of online political arguments. To understand this fallacy, it is crucial to first understand what constitutes a logical fallacy. A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning that leads to invalid arguments. These fallacies are often used, sometimes unintentionally, in arguments to reach a conclusion that is not logically supported by the evidence.

Definition of “No True Scotsman” Fallacy

The “No True Scotsman” fallacy is a specific type of informal fallacy that occurs when an individual attempts to protect a universal generalization from counterexamples by changing the definition in an ad hoc fashion to exclude the counterexample. In other words, it’s moving the goalposts to maintain an argument in the face of contradictory evidence.

Origin and Example

The term was coined by philosopher Antony Flew in his 1975 book “Thinking About Thinking”. The classic example provided is as follows:

Person A: “No Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.”