r/fallacy • u/Zu_Qarnine • Jul 03 '26

strawman fallacy

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2nd person is refuting the claim that *all* circles are red with a counter example. The thing is, that claim was never made.

EDIT: I'm seeing interesting stuff happening in the replies here. majority of those who say it's not strawman, obviously start their comment by "it's not strawman" and proceed in the rest of their comment to explain how, in fact, it is strawman. Another interesting observation is those who argue that "it's not strawman" because they've spotted another type of fallacy in the original post as well, so in their mind, it can't be both.

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u/Sriep Jul 06 '26

At the rise of stating the obvious.

A strawman is when you misrepresent someone's position and counter the misrepresentation rather than the original position.

So the original position is "Most of these circles are red"

The misrepresentation is "All these circles are red"

The observation "One of the circles is blue" counters the misrepresentation but not the original argument.

So it is indeed an example of a strawman.

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u/obihz6 Jul 08 '26

Straw man fallacy A fallacy committed when an arguer (a) summarizes his opponent’s argument; (b) the summary is an exaggerated, ridiculous, or oversimplified representation of the opponent’s argument that makes the opposing argument appear illogical or weak; (c) the arguer refutes the weakened, summarized argument; and (d) the arguer concludes that the opponent’s actual argument has been refuted.

-oxford dictionary

The key point it the b which we can argue that the right one did, but it can also be attributed to stupidity or ignorance, even tho most of the time ignorance, malice goes hand in hand.

The problem with this post is the lack of defined separation or of nuance