Sophistical Refutations

Sophistical Refutations (Greek: Σοφιστικοὶ Ἔλεγχοι, romanized: Sophistikoi Elenchoi; Latin: De Sophisticis Elenchis) is a text in Aristotle's Organon in which he identified thirteen fallacies.^{[note 1]} According to Aristotle, this is the first work to treat the subject of deductive reasoning in ancient Greece (Soph. Ref., 34, 183b34 ff.).

On Sophistical Refutations^{[1] [2]} consists of 34 chapters. The book naturally falls in two parts: chapters concerned with tactics for the Questioner (3–8 and 12–15) and chapters concerned with tactics for the Answerer (16–32). Besides, there is an introduction (1–2), an interlude (9–11), and a conclusion (33–34).^[3]

The fallacies Aristotle identifies in Chapter 4 (formal fallacies) and 5 (informal fallacies) of this book are the following:

Fallacies in the language or formal fallacies (in dictionem):

1. Equivocation
2. Amphiboly
3. Composition
4. Division
5. Accent
6. Figure of speech or form of expression

Fallacies not in the language or informal fallacies (extra dictionem):

• Gysembergh, Victor (2023). Forgotten Ancient Commentaries on Aristotle's Sphistical Refutations: Fragments of Aspasios, Herminos, Alexander, Syrianos and Philoponos. Boston: De Gruyter. ISBN 9783111332666.

• Works related to Sophistical Refutations at Wikisource
• HTML Greek text via Greco interattivo
• Translated by W. A. Pickard-Cambridge
• Sophistical Elenchi public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• ChangingMinds.org: "Aristotle's 13 fallacies"
• Parry, William T.; Hacker, Edward A. (1991), Aristotelian Logic, SUNY Press, p. 435, ISBN 978-0-7914-0690-8

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