The Appeal to consequences reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Appeal to consequences

Appeal to consequences, also known as argumentum ad consequentiam (Latin: argument to the consequences), is a logical fallacy which consists in deducing the falsity of a conclusion (specifically a belief) from the negative or positive consequences that would follow if it were true.

Some examples:

• "You cannot believe that water companies should belong to the public. Think of all the utility shares our family owns!".
• "God must exist, so many people find happiness in religion."

The argumentum ad baculum is a special case of appeal to consequences.

This is the "Appeal to consequences" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.