Ad nauseam
Ad nauseam ( Latin "to the point of seasickness") is a term for a discussion that was carried on to the point of "vomiting", i.e. to a point at which the discussion was so far-reaching that everyone involved had enough of it. It is related, but not directly, to the argumentum ad infinitum .
Reasoning error
Dodging arguments
Appealing to ad nauseam harbors the risk of an argumentation error , in particular the attempt to avoid an unpleasant topic or arguments that cannot be refuted by saying that they have already been discussed too often and that further discussion is unnecessary.
Proof by repetition
As ad nauseam until it is accepted as true is repeated, but without any evidence has been offered that would confirm the assertion - even from different people - one also after a claim as long as the designated argument error.
The quotation attributed to Joseph Goebbels (probably incorrectly) is often used as a warning against “proof by repetition” : “A lie that is told often enough becomes the truth at some point.”
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ ad nauseam - definition on Dictionary.com
- ↑ a b Hubert Schleichert : How to discuss with fundamentalists without losing your mind . Munich 2005, p. 48 f. (on Google Books )
- ↑ Timur Kuran: Living in Lies. Preference falsifications and their social consequences , Tübingen 1997, p. 200. ISBN 3-16-146424-9 .
- ↑ “A lie just has to be repeated enough times. Then it will be believed. ”Joseph Goebbels (allegedly). In: Quotation Research. December 6, 2017, accessed February 4, 2020 .