sophistry
Clever but wrong
Sophistry is reasoning that sounds clever but is actually flawed or deceptive—arguments designed to persuade rather than to find truth.
The term carries strong disapproval: to call someone's argument sophistry is to accuse them of intellectual dishonesty.
His defense of the policy was pure sophistry.
A sophist is one who practices sophistry, though historically the Sophists were ancient Greek teachers of rhetoric and philosophy.
Ambiguous language avoiding commitment
- circular reasoningFallacy assuming its conclusion
- non sequiturIllogical conclusion or remark
- red herringIntentional misleading distraction
- straw manFake version to demolish
ad hominem · false dilemma · slippery slope · hasty generalization · post hoc · begging the question · appeal to authority · false cause
Deception through clever manipulation
- prevaricationMisleading speech avoiding directness
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
manipulation · duplicity · disingenuousness · charlatanism · quackery · hoodwinking · cunning · trickery
Deceptive outward appearance
- charadeAbsurd or obvious pretense
- veneerDecorative outer layer
- guiseExternal manner shown
- insincerityLack of genuine feeling
pseudo-intellectualism · affectation · pomposity · posturing · pretentiousness · sham · speciousness · bad faith
Logical argument through opposition
- syllogismFormal deductive argument structure
- reasoningDrawing logical conclusions
- logicScience of valid reasoning
- disputationFormal argumentative exchange
debate · eristic · quibbling · nitpicking · pedantry · legalism · hairsplitting · caviling
Persuasive verbal grace
- oratoryFormal eloquent discourse
- demagogueryManipulative political rhetoric
- polemicAggressive argumentative discourse
- verbosityUnnecessary word excess
grandiloquence · glibness · casuistic · hair-splitting · fast-talking · smooth-talking · silver-tongued · semantics
equivocation
Ambiguous language avoiding commitment
- circular reasoningFallacy assuming its conclusion
- non sequiturIllogical conclusion or remark
- red herringIntentional misleading distraction
straw man · ad hominem · false dilemma · slippery slope · hasty generalization · post hoc · begging the question · appeal to authority · false cause · oversimplification
chicanery
Deception through clever manipulation
- prevaricationMisleading speech avoiding directness
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
artifice · manipulation · duplicity · disingenuousness · charlatanism · quackery · hoodwinking · cunning · trickery · evasion
facade
Deceptive outward appearance
insincerity · pseudo-intellectualism · affectation · pomposity · posturing · pretentiousness · sham · speciousness · bad faith · disingenuity
dialectic
Logical argument through opposition
- syllogismFormal deductive argument structure
- reasoningDrawing logical conclusions
- logicScience of valid reasoning
disputation · debate · eristic · quibbling · nitpicking · pedantry · legalism · hairsplitting · caviling · captious
eloquence
Persuasive verbal grace
- oratoryFormal eloquent discourse
- demagogueryManipulative political rhetoric
- polemicAggressive argumentative discourse
verbosity · grandiloquence · glibness · casuistic · hair-splitting · fast-talking · smooth-talking · silver-tongued · semantics · spin
- Greek philosophyAristotle, Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Academy
- rhetoricrhetoric, persuasion, oratory, argumentation, debate
- Greek rhetoricDemosthenes, Antiphon, rhetor, ethos, pathos
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- argumentsargument, arguing, disagreement, bickering, dispute
- beliefsbelief, beliefs, creed, creeds, faith
sophistryhonesty
Truthfulness, sincerity
sincerity · candor · truthfulness · good faith · intellectual honesty
sophistryvalid argument
Reasoning where conclusion follows necessarily
logic · mathematical proof · rigor · proof · demonstration
sophistryartlessness
Sincere, unfeigned manner
guilelessness · plainspokenness · directness · straightforwardness · simplicity
sophisticated, unsophisticated, sophistication, sophisticate, sophist, sophistical, sophistic, sophisticates, sophistries