Steelman
Amphiboly
Also called amphibology, syntactic ambiguity.
Exploiting a sentence whose grammar allows two readings.
What it is
Reasoning that depends on a grammatically ambiguous sentence, either reading it one way in one place and another way elsewhere, or treating the convenient reading as the only one.
The pattern
Sentence S can be parsed as meaning M1 or M2. The arguer relies on M1 (or switches between them) without acknowledging M2.
An example
An insurance policy covers “damage caused by flooding or fire in your garage”. After a street flood wrecks a parked car, the insurer argues flood damage is only covered in the garage.
“In your garage” can attach to “fire” alone or to both “flooding or fire”. The insurer’s conclusion depends on one reading the sentence doesn’t settle.
Why it fails
The words don’t settle which meaning was intended, so any conclusion that depends on one reading is unsupported until the ambiguity is resolved.
When it’s not a fallacy
Most lists skip this part. Calling a fair point a fallacy is a mistake too.
It can be fair when
- Context makes one reading obviously intended.
Try one
A question from the app. The wrong answers are its usual look-alikes.
Group chat. Lily posts a headline: “Critics slam studio’s remake of 80s classic with no story.” Jordan: “Ha, even the critics admit the original never had a story. A remake can only improve on it. Glad somebody’s finally fixing that movie.”
What’s the flaw?
The headline’s grammar lets “with no story” describe the remake or the classic. It’s slamming the remake, but Jordan reads it as a verdict on the original and builds his case on that reading.
A fair reply
“Read it again: the remake is the one with no story, which is why they’re slamming it.”
Often confused with
- Equivocation
Equivocation is about word meaning, amphiboly about sentence structure.
Where the name comes from
Amphiboly comes from a Greek word for “ambiguous”, built from “on both sides” and “throw”: a sentence that can land either way. The same “amphi” starts amphibian, an animal that lives both in water and on land. Amphibology is a longer form of the same word. “Syntactic ambiguity” says where the double meaning hides: in how the words are put together.
Amphiboly is one of Aristotle’s six language-dependent fallacies in Sophistical Refutations.
Sources
In the app
Practice spotting it on arguments that sound real.
Steelman has more examples of amphiboly, how to answer it in a real conversation, and practice rounds that mix it with its look-alikes, so you learn the difference, not just the name. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.
You’re on the list.
We’ll email you the day Steelman is out.
Thanks for offering to test. We’ll write before the beta with how to join.