Published On Feb 2, 2021
No true Scotsman fallacy
The no true Scotsman fallacy is also known as the appeal to purity fallacy. This fallacy is an argument that attempts to protect a universal generalization or stereotype by defining a word in a narrow-biased manner.
The term no true Scotsman comes from the following example:
Angus: no Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.
Scotty: But my uncle is a Scotsman, and he puts sugar on his porridge.
Angus: well, no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge!
The no true Scotsman fallacy is committed when someone defends a universal generalization by redefining terms in a manner that simply ignores evidence that contradicts the generalization.
In this clip Joe Biden is being interviewed by radio host, Charlemagne the God, prior to the 2020 presidential election between Biden and Donald Trump. In the interview Charlemagne was quite critical of Joe Biden’s support of the black community, and at the end of the interview he says that he would like to have Joe back on the show to ask more questions. Joe Biden responds,
“You got more questions. If you have a problem figuring out if you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Joe Biden implies that a person who would vote conservative or for Donald Trump cannot be A TRUE black person. A TRUE black person would vote for the democrat party, be supportive of the NAACP, and abhor Donald Trump’s comments.
In this argument Joe Biden has shifted the meaning of the word black to mean someone who would think a certain way rather than a person with a high concentration of melanin.. Since this definition is not in the dictionary, his argument is fallacious.
Biden Tells Black Trump Supporters “You Ain’t Black” Halle Jackson MSNBC.
In this clip Donald Trump is faced with the reality that some of his supporters acted violently. In order to separate himself from the actions of these people he claims that they are not REAL supporters, and he commits the no true Scotsman fallacy.
The no true Scotsman fallacy occurs in an argument when one redefines a term to protect a universal generalization.
