Editing Appeal to ridicule

{{Short description|Type of logical fallacy}}
'''Appeal to ridicule''' (also called '''appeal to mockery''', '''''ad absurdo''''', or the '''horse laugh''')<ref name="Moore">{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=Brooke Noel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/855209109 |title=Critical thinking |date=2015 |others=Richard Parker, Nina Rosenstand, Anita Silvers |isbn=978-0-07-811914-9 |edition=11 |location=Dubuque |oclc=855209109}}</ref> is an [[informal fallacy]] which presents an opponent's argument as [[Absurdity|absurd]], [[ridiculous]], or [[humorous]], and therefore not worthy of serious consideration.

== Description ==
Appeal to ridicule is often found in the form of comparing a multi-layered circumstance or argument to a laughably commonplace event or to another irrelevant thing based on comedic timing, or [[wordplay]]. This is a rhetorical tactic that mocks an opponent's argument or position, attempting to inspire a strong emotional reaction (making it a type of [[appeal to emotion]]) in the audience and to highlight any [[counter-intuitive]] aspects of that argument, making it appear foolish and contrary to [[common sense]]. This is typically done by mocking the argument's representative foundation in an [[principle of charity|uncharitable]] and oversimplified way. The person using the tactic is often sarcastic in their argument.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Appeal To Ridicule - Definition & Examples |url=https://www.logicalfallacies.org/appeal-to-ridicule.html |access-date=2020-10-11 |website=www.logicalfallacies.org}}</ref>

== Examples ==
This dialogue presents an example of appeal to ridicule:

{{poem quote|Person A: At one time in prehistory, the continents were fused together into a single supercontinent, which we call Pangaea.
Person B: Yes, I definitely believe that hundreds of millions of years ago, some laser cut through the Earth and broke apart a giant landmass into many different pieces.}}

The element of ridicule arises from person B projecting an unstated assumption—that the only means of separating continents would be with a laser—onto the proposition stated by person A.

==See also==
* ''[[Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses]]''
* [[Mockery]]
* ''[[Reductio ad absurdum]]''
* [[Straw man]] (a similar fallacy)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Fallacies}}

[[Category:Appeals to emotion|Ridicule]]

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