Vacuous Truth Fallacy
/ˈvækjʊəs truːθ fəˈlæsi/
Definitions
- (n.) A logical fallacy in legal reasoning where a statement is deemed true solely because the condition it asserts is impossible, leading to misleading conclusions.
The court warned against relying on vacuous truth fallacy when interpreting contract clauses that apply only under impossible circumstances.
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Commentary
Commonly arises in legal analyses involving conditional statements where the antecedent is factually impossible, thus the statement's truth is vacuously valid but substantively irrelevant.
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