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Appeal To Pity
An appeal to pity (also called ''argumentum ad misericordiam'', the sob story, or the Galileo argument) is a fallacy in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting one's opponent's feelings of pity or guilt. It is a specific kind of appeal to emotion. The name "Galileo argument" refers to the scientist's suffering as a result of his house arrest by the Inquisition. Examples * "You must have graded my exam incorrectly. I studied very hard for weeks specifically because I knew my career depended on getting a good grade. If you give me a failing grade I'm ruined!" * "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, look at this miserable man, in a wheelchair, unable to use his legs. Could such a man really be guilty of embezzlement?" See also * Appeal to consequences Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Appeal To Pity Pity Pity is a sympathetic sorrow evoked by the suffering of others, and is used in a comparable sense to ''compassion'', '' condolence'' or ''empathy'' â ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pity
Pity is a sympathetic sorrow evoked by the suffering of others, and is used in a comparable sense to ''compassion'', '' condolence'' or ''empathy'' – the word deriving from the Latin ''pietas'' (etymon also of ''piety''). Self-pity is pity directed towards oneself. Two different kinds of pity can be distinguished, "benevolent pity" and "contemptuous pity" (see Kimball), where, through insincere, pejorative usage, pity is used to connote feelings of superiority, condescension, or contempt. Psychological opinions Psychologists see pity arising in early childhood out of the infant's ability to identify with others. Psychoanalysis sees a more convoluted route to (at least some forms of) adult pity by way of the sublimation of aggression – pity serving as a kind of magic gesture intended to show how leniently one should oneself be treated by one's own conscience. Religious views *In the West, the religious concept of pity was reinforced after acceptance of Judeo-Christia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
