Argument by assertion

From RationalWiki

There is a broader, perhaps slightly less biased, article on Wikipedia about Argument by assertion

Argument by assertion is a simple formal logical fallacy that has the following structure:

X is true.

It may take a longer form, such as:

X is true. I say it's true. Nothing you do can convince me otherwise. If you don't believe in X you have a closed mind. I like it at least. It's true. Oh, shut up and have an open mind! Of course it's true!!

It is also well known as rhetoric, because an assertion itself isn't really a proof of anything, or even a real argument - assertion only demonstrates that the person making the statement believes in it. An inability to provide anything other than an argument by assertion may be the result of brainwashing or because the individual presenting the argument is basing their belief on blind faith.

A repeated argument by assertion can also take the form of non sequitur that requires little effort to make and is therefore often used to fatigue people who make actual arguments. They will then bow out of the debate, usually exhausted, having lost faith in humanity and muttering "how the hell do you reason with these people?!?!" through grinding teeth - at which point the individual making the assertive argument simply declares victory.

[edit] Denial-like example

In this exchange, A makes an argument by assertion:

A: X is not true.

B: [argument C]; therefore X is true.

A: X IS NOT TRUE!!!

[edit] Circular example

Or sometimes they will address the counter-argument as such:

A: X is not true.

B: [argument C]; therefore X is true.

A: argument C this is nonsense, because X is not true.

[edit] See also

• Circular reasoning
• Ray Comfort
• Creationist escape hatches