No true Scotsman

What it is

Protects a generalization from a counterexample by redefining the group so the counterexample no longer counts ("no real X would do that").

Related

• Motivated reasoning bias
  Redefining the group to dodge a counterexample is motivated reasoning applied to definitions.
• Moving the goalposts fallacy
  No true Scotsman moves the goalposts of a category's definition after a counterexample appears.
• Special pleading fallacy
  Both rescue a belief from counterexamples; no true Scotsman redefines the category, special pleading claims an exception.

References

• Wikipedia: No true Scotsman en.wikipedia.org
• Your Logical Fallacy Is: No true Scotsman yourlogicalfallacyis.com
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Fallacies iep.utm.edu
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Fallacies plato.stanford.edu
• Wikipedia: List of fallacies en.wikipedia.org
• Purdue OWL: Logical fallacies owl.purdue.edu

More in “Dodging or distorting the argument”