Intellectual dishonesty - Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Fhionagan (talk | contribs) at 10:03, 9 February 2007 (→See also: Reference and sources). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 10:03, 9 February 2007 by Fhionagan (talk | contribs) (→See also: Reference and sources)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Intellectual dishonesty" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Intellectual dishonesty is the advocacy of a position known to be false. Rhetoric is used to advance an agenda or to reinforce one's deeply held beliefs in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence. If a person is aware of the evidence and the conclusion it portends, yet holds a contradictory view, it is intellectual dishonesty. If the person is unaware of the evidence, their position is ignorance, even if in agreement with the scientific conclusion.

The terms intellectually dishonest and intellectual dishonesty are often used as rhetorical devices in a debate; the label invariably frames an opponent in a negative light. It is an obfuscatory way to say "you're lying" or "you're stupid", and has a cooling effect on conversations similar to accusations of ignorance.

The phrase is also frequently used by orators when a debate foe or audient reaches a conclusion varying from the speaker's on a given subject. This appears mostly in debates or discussions of speculative, non-scientific issues, such as morality or policy. In such cases, the speaker is (perhaps unwittingly, and always ironically) guilty of both intellectual dishonesty and ignorance, because he or she has mistaken opinions for verifiable facts.