Question

...
Corvin

Can Sea lioning be a fallacy?

I had looked up to a bad-faith debate tactic called, "Sealioning" which is in quite basic terms asking a person to prove everything that they claim regardless of its level of relevance to the conversation.

So this is a tactic, but gish gallop is also a tactic that tries to do something extremely similar but instead of asking questions to prove something, it gives arguments.

Not all fallacies are tactics, but if gish galloping can be fallacious, can sea lioning be too? It sounds like its linked with nitpicking which is also already in the book, any ideas?
asked on Tuesday, Jan 25, 2022 06:57:26 PM by Corvin

Top Categories Suggested by Community

Comments

Want to get notified of all questions as they are asked? Update your mail preferences and turn on "Instant Notification."

Eat Meat... Or Don't.

Roughly 95% of Americans don’t appear to have an ethical problem with animals being killed for food, yet all of us would have a serious problem with humans being killed for food. What does an animal lack that a human has that justifies killing the animal for food but not the human?

As you start to list properties that the animal lacks to justify eating them, you begin to realize that some humans also lack those properties, yet we don’t eat those humans. Is this logical proof that killing and eating animals for food is immoral? Don’t put away your steak knife just yet.

In Eat Meat… Or Don’t, we examine the moral arguments for and against eating meat with both philosophical and scientific rigor. This book is not about pushing some ideological agenda; it’s ultimately a book about critical thinking.

Get 20% off this book and all Bo's books*. Use the promotion code: websiteusers

* This is for the author's bookstore only. Applies to autographed hardcover, audiobook, and ebook.

Get the Book

Answers

...
Bo Bennett, PhD
3

Yes. It is part of the class of "fallacies" that are more tactics in argumentation. One should be aware of these and remind those guilty of their lack of relevance in the conversation.

I wrote an article about "sea lioning," among a few others, because people who don't like their dogma questioned cry "sea lioning" when sincere, Socratic questioning is used. "Sea lioning" is also simply "asking insincere questions." The problem is, sincerity cannot easily be determined by another person.

answered on Tuesday, Jan 25, 2022 07:41:56 PM by Bo Bennett, PhD

Bo Bennett, PhD Suggested These Categories

Comments