What is that word???

[Fether]

I’m trying to think of a word I learned forever ago but l cant remember it. I either learned it in a philosophy class and it was a certain fallacy, or in my English and propaganda class.

The attributes of the word are as followed:

- It describes a widely accepted and rarely disputed phrase, usually used as a gut reaction, whose purpose is to avoid addressing a question or complaint.

- Similar to the term “pointless tautology”

- Examples of this are:

Person 1: Where does God come from?

Person 2: We are just not meant to know

—

Person 1: I’m so sick of practicing this cello!

Person 2: Practice makes perfect

—

Person 1: My wife is always is always demanding money to go shopping

Person 2: hey man, happy wife happy life

[Vort]

Sounds less like a tautology and more like a trite, perhaps even insipid phrase that substitutes blithe aphorism for critical thinking. I think the technical name for that fallacy is "trying to pass off a sound bite as if it were a reasoned argument."

[Jamie123]

A phrase I often use when I can't think of any better response is "Ah, well there you go!" I think I picked it up from my father.

An example:

Me (to supermarket checkout girl as I get to the head of the line): And how are you today?

Girl: Fine, except that I'm not married to Phil Collins.

Me (feigning shock): Phil Collins??? Isn't he a bit old for you?

Girl: I don't mind. I like 'em old!

Me: Ah, well there you go!

It would be useful to know the word for that sort of thing - I'd be interested to know what it is.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Jamie123

[Guest Mores]

10 hours ago, Fether said:

Person 1: Where does God come from?

Person 2: We are just not meant to know

Argument from Ignorance

Quote

Person 1: I’m so sick of practicing this cello!

Person 2: Practice makes perfect

I SO want to say "Argument from Repetition", but I don't think that's what you're looking for.

Quote

Person 1: My wife is always is always demanding money to go shopping

Person 2: hey man, happy wife happy life

Ludic Fallacy

I'm wondering if the word you're looking for is a "platitude"?  Possibly, "bromide"?

Edited May 21, 2019 by Mores

[Fether]

All these are good, but not what I’m looking for 😕 

I am beginning to think that it was a specific logical fallacy.

[Jamie123]

3 minutes ago, Fether said:

All these are good, but not what I’m looking for 😕 

I am beginning to think that it was a specific logical fallacy.

non sequitur?

[Guest Mores]

1 hour ago, Fether said:

All these are good, but not what I’m looking for 😕 

I am beginning to think that it was a specific logical fallacy.

If "platitude" isn't it, then all I can offer is "red herring" or as Jamie indicated "non sequitur".  Maybe a straw man. 

I know of no formally defined logical fallacy that means,"A commonly accepted axiom that is cliche'd, but is often used to stop the discussion on a topic."

[Connie]

Maybe sloganeering?

"Reductionism: (also, Oversimplifying, Sloganeering): The fallacy of deceiving an audience by giving simple answers or bumper-sticker slogans in response to complex questions, especially when appealing to less educated or unsophisticated audiences. E.g., "If the glove doesn’t fit, you must vote to acquit." Or, "Vote for Snith. He'll bring back jobs!" In science, technology, engineering and mathematics ("STEM subjects") reductionism is intentionally practiced to make intractable problems computable, e.g., the well-known humorous suggestion, "First, let's assume the cow is a sphere!". See also, the Plain Truth Fallacy, and Dog-whistle Politics." 

from: http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/ENGL1311/fallacies.htm

[Fether]

1 hour ago, Mores said:

If "platitude" isn't it

I think every example of this unknown word is a platitude, but the word describes something beyond what platitude does. the word describes a platitude whose sole purpose is to deflect any effort to answer a question. It is both a platitude and an appeal to common sense/popularity.

'x word' is always a platitude, but a platitude is not always the 'x word'

But so far this word has the closest definition to the word I am looking for. But I almost want a more specific word for what I am looking for. 

For example, the phrase "with all due respect" is a platitude but does not fit the word I'm looking for.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Fether

[Guest Mores]

13 minutes ago, Fether said:

I think every example of this unknown word is a platitude, but the word describes something beyond what platitude does. the word describes a platitude whose sole purpose is to deflect any effort to answer a question. It is both a platitude and an appeal to common sense/popularity.

'x word' is always a platitude, but a platitude is not always the 'x word'

But so far this word has the closest definition to the word I am looking for. But I almost want a more specific word for what I am looking for. 

For example, the phrase "with all due respect" is a platitude but does not fit the word I'm looking for.

Well, any logical fallacy is meant to be some kind of deflection using false reasoning or even false facts.  You could say that the word you're looking for is basically "deflection via platitude".

[Fether]

10 minutes ago, Mores said:

Well, any logical fallacy is meant to be some kind of deflection using false reasoning or even false facts.  You could say that the word you're looking for is basically "deflection via platitude".

Well I will take it haha x) 

[Anddenex]

Here are the ones that enter my mind with what you provided:

1) False Dilemma/False Dichotomy

2) Casual Fallacy

Definition provided, "Another kind of causal fallacy is the correlational fallacy also known as cum hoc ergo propter hoc (Lat., “with this therefore because of this"). This fallacy happens when you mistakenly interpret two things found together as being causally related. Two things may correlate without a causal relation, or they may have some third factor causing both of them to occur. Or perhaps both things just, coincidentally, happened together. Correlation doesn’t prove causation."

3) Weak Analogy

Definition: Many arguments rely on an analogy between two or more objects, ideas, or situations. If the two things that are being compared aren’t really alike in the relevant respects, the analogy is a weak one, and the argument that relies on it commits the fallacy of weak analogy.

4) Appeal to Tradition

(Argumentum Ad Traditionem; aka Argumentum Ad Antiquitatem): This line of thought asserts that a premise must be true because people have always believed it or done it. For example, "We know the earth is flat because generations have thought that for centuries!" Alternatively, the appeal to tradition might conclude that the premise has always worked in the past and will thus always work in the future: “Jefferson City has kept its urban growth boundary at six miles for the past thirty years. That has been good enough for thirty years, so why should we change it now? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Such an argument is appealing in that it seems to be common sense, but it ignores important questions. Might an alternative policy work even better than the old one? Are there drawbacks to that long-standing policy? Are circumstances changing from the way they were thirty years ago? Has new evidence emerged that might throw that long-standing policy into doubt?

5) Fallacy of Accident

This error occurs when one applies a general rule to a particular case when accidental circumstances render the general rule inapplicable. For example, in Plato’s Republic, Plato finds an exception to the general rule that one should return what one has borrowed: “Suppose that a friend when in his right mind has deposited arms with me and asks for them when he is not in his right mind. Ought I to give the weapons back to him? No one would say that I ought or that I should be right in doing so. . . .” What is true in general may not be true universally and without qualification. So remember, generalizations are bad. All of them. Every single last one. Except, of course, for those that are not.

6) Fallacy of Reification (Also called “Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness” by Alfred North Whitehead)

7) Thought-terminating cliché – a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance, conceal lack of forethought, move on to other topics, etc. – but in any case, to end the debate with a cliché rather than a point.

Upon review I think #7 comes the closest, but not sure.

[Guest Mores]

1 hour ago, Anddenex said:

7) Thought-terminating cliché – a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance, conceal lack of forethought, move on to other topics, etc. – but in any case, to end the debate with a cliché rather than a point.

Upon review I think #7 comes the closest, but not sure.

I've never heard of that one.  But, Yes.  That is exactly what it is.