Confidence as a validator:
| Definition | Example |
| When the certainty one feels in respect to a claim is submitted as evidence for the truth of that claim. | I’ve never swayed from my confidence that Santa is real, and there is no degree of evidence that can counter the way I feel. How can you claim I’m wrong? |
| Notes | |
| This fallacy results from considering certainty a legitimate validation of a proposition rather than as a potentially misguided emotion. Sometimes it is emotional certainty that prevents the emotional pain that might result from following the evidence into disbelief, and other times certainty is triggered by a legitimate intuition that results in an emotional snowball of certainty that does not permit an honest assessment of the possible evidential clues hidden behind the emotional intuition. | |
Case Study One
Theists often conflate the emotional confidence derived from other emotions such as peace and love with evidence for the existence of their god. This essentially makes belief circular; “I know what I know”.
[Example]
Keep in mind that a fallacious argument does not entail an erroneous position.
