If you violate the laws of proper development of thought appears logical fallacy. Usually it occurs unintentionally. In this case it is called paralogisms (from the Greek. Paralogismos - a false argument). But sometimes the demands of logic willfully ignored. Deliberately camouflaged bug is sophistry (from the Greek. Sophis-ma - invention). Sophism is a clever trick by which a false proposition is presented as true. This kind of intellectual fraud. Resort to it in the case when the task - by all means to win the dispute to win over his rival. sophistry - a simulator for the gymnastics of the mind. They allow you to create a culture of thinking is by contradiction. Investigation of errors of intellectual activity is not less valuable than the conscious assimilation of the laws of logic. Therefore, the activities of the founders of sophistry can be regarded as an important stage in the science of thought. With regard formulated their sophistry, they were mostly illustrative and informative in nature.

List of sophistic techniques unusually long. How to classify the well-known tricks in the dispute? There are many ways. Consider one. Main parts of the dispute - the thesis, arguments and demonstrations. Requirements to them, as we recall, are simple. The thesis should be clearly defined, clear and precise arguments - as true, sufficient to justify the thesis, the demonstration - is logically correct. If these conditions are not met, the course of the dispute is deformed. On this play, and the sophists. They manipulate the thesis, arguments and demonstrations, sending the dispute to the right channel for them. Accordingly, all the tricks used in the dispute can be divided into three groups. The first group includes those that relate to the thesis, the second - to the arguments in the third - to the forms of proof or disproof. In this sequence we will consider them.

Tasted sophistic method - deliberate substitution of the thesis in the dispute. The procedure is usually performed as follows. Someone has formulated a proposal. Either in full-time or part time in a dispute the content of his quietly mutating. Attributed to the opponent is not what he meant. And in the end wins the "victory" over him. Technology to realize such a forgery is simple. Sophists, especially skillfully using sufficiently precise definition of the subject of many disputes, vagueness discussed in these propositions. Existing logical gaps they fill them with necessary content. Because of this thesis is undergoing mysterious metamorphosis. A rich breeding ground for the transformation of the thesis is a sophistical ambiguity of ordinary language, the possibility of granting the same words different meaning.

And what a room for sophistic exercises can open up some of the ambiguity of statements! Semantic manipulation comedians and satirists in the majority are entertaining and playful nature. But when the substitute sophistical notions are beginning to deal with politicians, academics, ideologues, it takes no comic turn. One of the tricks - using as an argument to justify the thesis of the thesis. When sophistical "handling" of the arguments used a variety of psychological tricks. They are very much. Most often in the course are the so-called arguments "to force", "to the public," the personality "," the authority "," to ignorance "," compassion ". One of the most unworthy reception of the dispute is the application of the argument "to the force." Settling disputes by means of "force of the arguments" causes great harm and knowledge, and practice.