COFFEE.jpg (2219 bytes)

 

 

  

Amphiboly
 
Description:

 
The argument depends upon an ambiguity in grammar. One meaning makes one of the premisses true, but it makes another of the premisses false. The alternative meaning makes the second premiss true, but makes the first premiss false.
 

 
Examples:

"Headline: Zoo Staff Mothers Abandoned Chimp. The story tells how members of the zoo's staff cared for a baby champanzee that had been rejected by its own mother. But what did the mothers of the zoo staff have against that poor baby chimp?" [Based on an actual headline in the Rocky Mountain News.]

"They said they suspect several people of setting the fire. Therefore I can't be under suspicion, since I was alone that night."
 

 
Discussion:

 
Of all the fallacies, Amphiboly is the most fun. The inadvertently clever word play and outrageous misunderstandings to which it gives rise just tickle our sense of humor. Just for fun, here is a sampling - allegedly taken from actual headlines, although I cannot verify that claim - of grammatical ambiguities of the kind that might result in an Amphiboly:

          March Planned for Next August

          Blind Bishop Appointed to See

          Patient at Death's Door--Doctors Pull Him Through

          Teacher Strikes Idle Kids

          Lawyers Give Poor Free Legal Advice

          Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

          Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in Ten Years

          Autos Killing 110 a Day--Let's Resolve to Do Better

          Collegians are Turning to Vegetables

As far as I know, Amphiboly mimics good reasoning in precisely the same way that Equivocation does: if the shift in meaning is subtle enough, it may simply go unnoticed. Frankly, I doubt that this happens very often. Judged by its frequency of occurrence, or its deleterious effect on public discourse, I doubt that Amphiboly is a very important fallacy; but, it is among the oldest of recognized fallacies, and its humor value assures it a place on most lists.

 

 
Classification: A Fallacy of Ambiguity (a fallacy of soundness in which we cannot tell whether the fallacy occurs in the major premiss or the minor premiss).

 
Source: Aristotle, Sophistical Refutations 4 (166a: 5 - 20).

 

Go to:     WELCOME     EXPLANATION of PRINCIPLES     TABLE of  FALLACIES     EXERCISES     INDEX