Reductio ad Absurdum

ree-DUCK-tee-oh add ab-SER-dum

The “reduction to absurdity” follows an opponent’s logic out the window, reducing it to absurdity; hence the name. If rendered in the form of an if-then clause (“If you’re a plumber then I’m a rocket scientist”), the Ad Absurdum takes the technical name of disasyrmus (die-ah-SIR-mus), meaning “tear apart.”

See if-then clause.

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