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A fallacy, as the term is usually employed, describes a common misconception such as “Handling frogs causes warts”, but more formally it characterises the reasoning that leads to the belief in such a statement.[1]
The argument from incredulity, also known as the divine fallacy,[2] asserts that a proposition must be false because it contradicts one’s expectations or beliefs, or is difficult to imagine.[3] Arguments from incredulity take one of two general forms:
- I cannot imagine how P could be true; therefore P must be false
- I cannot imagine how P could be false; therefore P must be true
Arguments from incredulity are frequently used to argue that something must be supernatural in origin, as when before the cause of thunder and lightning was understood it was thought to be an expression of God’s rage.[4]
Modern politicians have developed a variation on this fallacy, in which they initially self-deprecatingly acknowledge their lack of expertise, as in “I am not a scientist”, but then go on to promote their own beliefs regardless.[3]