Petitio Principii Fallacy Examples in Media, Real Life, Politics, News & Ads

Petitio Principii Fallacy

The petitio principii fallacy is a logical fallacy in which the conclusion of an argument is based on premises that are assumed to be true without any evidence. This type of fallacy often occurs when someone assumes something and then tries to use it as proof for their original assumption.

Petitio principii is a form of circular reasoning or fallacious reasoning. It is a Latin term which means “assuming the initial point.” It is a fallacy in which the arguer’s conclusion turns out to be what one of the premises of the argument.

The arguer initially assumes an argument’s conclusion and then uses this argument to support that conclusion. It is vice in which a person argues for a conclusion by assuming that conclusion in the premises

A conclusion is established and then the argument is used to support this conclusion. In this fallacy, the conclusion is called a petitio principii, which means “re-asking the same question” and is Latin for “begging the question.”

An example of this fallacy is “The Bible is true because the Bible says it is true.

Petitio Principii Fallacy Examples

Petitio Principii example in Philosophy

Examples of Petitio Principii Fallacy in Philosophy:

For example, if you assume that your friend’s new car must be expensive because it has leather seats, this would be an example of the petitio principii fallacy.

Other examples include: 

•  A person claims that because they are a vegan, all vegans are healthy.
• The conclusion is already assumed in the premise.
• This fallacy is committed when someone assumes as true the very thing that needs to be proven

Petitio Principii Fallacy Real-Life Examples

Petitio Principii Fallacy in Real Life:

The petittion principii fallacy is the “fallacy of assuming one’s conclusion in the premises.” This fallacy is often committed during arguments and other endeavors.

For example, in court trials. If a person is involved in a court trial and they say that the defendant committed the crime before they have shown that the defendant committed the crime they will have committed the petition principii fallacy.

Petitio Principii Fallacy Examples in Media

Examples of Petitio Principii Fallacy in Media:

News outlets often use the petitio principii fallacy when they make assumptions about a person’s character based on their appearance,

For example, if someone is wearing a black dress and has long hair, news outlets may assume that she is an evil witch.

Petitio Principii Examples in Advertising

Petitio Principii Fallacy in Advertising:

Advertising that states “all other products are inferior”. Advertising that uses false comparisons to make their product seem better than the competition.

Advertising that makes a claim without providing any evidence for it

Petitio Principii Fallacy in Politics

Examples of Petitio Principii Fallacy in Politics:

• The government should enact a law to protect the environment because it is important.
• A proposed law would be bad for business, so we need to stop it from happening

Petitio Principii Fallacy examples in Movies

Examples of Petitio Principii Fallacy in Movies:

• When a character in the movie says “I’m not going to do that” and then does it.
• When a character in the movie says “I don’t know what I want, but I know that’s not it” and then chooses something anyway.
•  When a character in the movie says “you can’t trust her because she’s always lying” without any proof

Petitio Principii Fallacy Examples in Literature

Examples of Petitio Principii Fallacy in Literature:

The conclusion of an argument is assumed in the premise,  A person argues that because a certain event happened, it must have been caused by some specific thing.  An argument may be valid but not sound

The author of the book is not a good writer.  This sentence proves that the author is not a good writer.

The fact that this sentence was written proves that the author is not a good writer

Petitio Principii Fallacy Examples in News

Examples of Petitio Principii Fallacy in News:

•  The argument that the News is biased because it has a conservative slant.
• The opinion that all Republicans are racist.
•  Claiming that the News is misleading because they use clickbait headlines

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