Parafallacies

Reasoning patterns that run alongside fallacies—parallel to them, related to them, but distinct. Parafallacies are the cousins of fallacies: they share family resemblance but aren't the same thing. A paradox might look like a contradiction but isn't; a tautology might look like circular reasoning but isn't; a rhetorical flourish might look like an appeal to emotion but serves a different purpose. Parafallacies remind us that not every departure from strict logic is an error—some are features, not bugs, of human reasoning.

Parafallacies Example: "Her argument relied on a paradox: 'This statement is false.' It looked like a contradiction, sounded like a fallacy, but was actually a profound philosophical point. Parafallacy—alongside fallacy, not of it. He couldn't dismiss it as simple error; it was doing something else entirely."

by Abzugal March 7, 2026