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

Appeal to ridicule

The logical fallacy of appeal to ridicule presents the opponent's argument in a way that appears ridiculous and mocking it.

Examples:

1. If Einstein is right that would mean that when I drive my car it gets shorter and heavier. That's crazy!
2. You can't have a cat called Fido. Calling a cat Fido would just be silly!

This should be contrasted with reductio ad absurdum which is a valid logical argument form. Ridiculing the person making the argument is specifically an ad hominem attack.

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