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Full Idea
The fallacy of 'ad obscurum per obscurius' is to explain the obscure by appeal to what is more obscure.
Gist of Idea
It is a fallacy to explain the obscure with the even more obscure
Source
B Hale / C Wright (The Metaontology of Abstraction [2009], §3)
Book Ref
'Metametaphysics', ed/tr. Chalmers/Manley/Wasserman [OUP 2009], p.182
A Reaction
Not strictly a fallacy, so much as an example of inadequate explanation, along with circularity and infinite regresses.
| 19463 | Induction assumes some uniformity in nature, or that in some respects the future is like the past [Ayer] |
| 21697 | The Struthionic Fallacy is that of burying one's head in the sand [Quine] |
| 12223 | It is a fallacy to explain the obscure with the even more obscure [Hale/Wright] |
| 14603 | 'Reification' occurs if we mistake a concept for a thing [Schaffer,J] |
| 11070 | 'Denying the antecedent' fallacy: φ→ψ, ¬φ, so ¬ψ [Hanna] |
| 11071 | 'Affirming the consequent' fallacy: φ→ψ, ψ, so φ [Hanna] |
| 11088 | We can list at least fourteen informal fallacies [Hanna] |
| 4686 | Fallacies are errors in reasoning, 'formal' if a clear rule is breached, and 'informal' if more general [PG] |