View source for Straw man

{{Short description|Form of incorrect argument and informal fallacy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File: McKinley Destroys Imperialism Straw Man.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|U.S. president [[William McKinley]] has shot a cannon (labeled McKinley's Letter) that has involved a "straw man" and its constructors ([[Carl Schurz]], [[Oswald Garrison Villard]], [[Richard Olney]]) in a great explosion. Caption: "SMASHED!", ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', 22 September 1900]]
A '''straw man''' fallacy (sometimes written as '''strawman''') is the [[informal fallacy]] of refuting an argument different from the one actually under discussion, while not recognizing or acknowledging the distinction.<ref name="Stephen Downes">{{cite web |url=http://web.uvic.ca/psyc/skelton/Teaching/General%20Readings/Logical%20Falllacies.htm#_Toc495459590 |author=Downes, Stephen |title=The Logical Fallacies |access-date=25 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181716/http://web.uvic.ca/psyc/skelton/Teaching/General%20Readings/Logical%20Falllacies.htm#_Toc495459590 |archive-date=3 March 2016 }}</ref> One who engages in this fallacy is said to be "attacking a straw man".

The typical straw man argument creates the illusion of having refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition through the covert replacement of it with a different proposition (i.e., "stand up a straw man") and the subsequent refutation of that false argument ("knock down a straw man"), instead of the opponent's proposition.<ref name="book">{{cite book |last=Pirie |first=Madsen |author-link=Madsen Pirie |title=How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic |year=2007 |publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group]] |location=UK |isbn=978-0-8264-9894-6 |pages=155–157 }}</ref><ref name="files">{{cite web |url=http://www.fallacyfiles.org/strawman.html |title=The Straw Man Fallacy |work=fallacyfiles.org |access-date=12 October 2007 }}</ref> Straw man arguments have been used throughout history in [[polemic|polemical debate]], particularly regarding highly charged emotional subjects.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Demir |first1=Yeliz |title=Derailment of strategic maneuvering in a multi-participant TV debate: The fallacy of [[ignoratio elenchi]]|journal=Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi |date=2018 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=25–58}}</ref>

Straw man tactics in the United Kingdom may also be known as an [[Aunt Sally#Language|Aunt Sally]], after a pub game of the same name, where patrons throw sticks or battens at a post to knock off a [[Glossary of cue sports terms#skittle|skittle]] balanced on top.<ref name="Lindley2006">{{Cite book |last=Lindley |first=Dennis V.|author-link=Dennis Lindley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z0ArJ_CDnssC&pg=PA80 |title=Understanding Uncertainty |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-470-04383-7 |page=80|access-date=25 February 2016}}</ref><ref name="Sparkes1991">{{cite book|author=A. W. Sparkes|title=Talking Philosophy: A Wordbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2NkOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA104|year=1991|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0-415-04223-9|page=104|access-date=25 February 2016}}</ref>

==Overview==
The straw man [[fallacy]] occurs in the following pattern of argument:

# ''Person 1'' asserts proposition ''X''.
# ''Person 2'' argues against a superficially similar proposition ''Y'', as though an argument against ''Y'' were an argument against ''X''.

This reasoning is a [[irrelevant conclusion|fallacy of relevance]]: it fails to address the proposition in question by misrepresenting the opposing position.

For example:
* Quoting an opponent's words out of context—i.e.,&nbsp;choosing quotations that misrepresent the opponent's intentions (see [[fallacy of quoting out of context]]).<ref name="files" />
* Presenting someone who defends a position poorly as ''the'' defender, then denying that person's arguments—thus giving the appearance that ''every'' upholder of that position (and thus the position itself) has been defeated.<ref name="book" />
* Oversimplifying an opponent's argument, then attacking this oversimplified version.
* Exaggerating (sometimes grossly) an opponent's argument, then attacking this exaggerated version.

===Contemporary revisions===
In 2006, Robert Talisse and Scott Aikin expanded the application and use of the straw man fallacy beyond that of previous rhetorical scholars, arguing that the straw man fallacy can take two forms: the original form that misrepresents the opponent's position, which they call the ''representative form''; and a new form they call the ''selection form''.

The selection form focuses on a partial and weaker (and easier to refute) representation of the opponent's position. Then the easier refutation of this weaker position is claimed to refute the opponent's complete position. They point out the similarity of the selection form to the fallacy of [[hasty generalization]], in which the refutation of an opposing position that is weaker than the opponent's is claimed as a refutation of all opposing arguments. Because they have found significantly increased use of the selection form in modern political argumentation, they view its identification as an important new tool for the improvement of public discourse.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Talisse |first1=Robert |last2=Aikin |first2=Scott |date=September 2006 |title=Two Forms of the Straw Man |journal=Argumentation |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |volume=20 |number=3 |pages=345–352 |doi=10.1007/s10503-006-9017-8 |s2cid=15523437 |issn=1572-8374 |url=https://www.academia.edu/654363 }}</ref>

Aikin and Casey expanded on this model in 2010, introducing a third form. Referring to the "representative form" as the classic ''straw man'', and the "selection form" as the ''weak man'', the third form is called the ''hollow man''. A hollow man argument is one that is a complete fabrication, where both the viewpoint and the opponent expressing it do not in fact exist, or at the very least the arguer has never encountered them. Such arguments frequently take the form of vague phrasing such as "some say," "someone out there thinks" or similar [[weasel word]]s, or it might attribute a non-existent argument to a broad movement in general, rather than an individual or organization.<ref name="Aiken">{{cite journal|last1=Aikin |first1=Scott |last2=Casey |first2=John |date=March 2011 |title=Straw Men, Weak Men, and Hollow Men|journal=Argumentation |publisher=Springer Netherlands |volume=25 |number=1 |pages=87–105 |doi=10.1007/s10503-010-9199-y |s2cid=143594966 |issn=1572-8374 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2609857}}</ref><ref name="Walton2013">{{cite book|author=Douglas Walton|author-link=Douglas N. Walton|title=Methods of Argumentation|year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-43519-3}}</ref>

==== Nutpicking ====
A variation on the selection form, or "weak man" argument, that combines with an [[ad hominem]] and [[fallacy of composition]] is ''nutpicking'' (or ''nut picking''), a neologism coined by [[Kevin Drum]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Nutpicking |first=Kevin |last=Drum|author-link=Kevin Drum|magazine=[[Washington Monthly]] |date=11 August 2006}}</ref> A combination of "nut" (i.e., insane person) and "[[Cherry picking (fallacy)|cherry picking]]", as well as a play on the word "nitpicking", nut picking refers to intentionally seeking out extremely fringe, non-representative statements from members of an opposing group and parading these as evidence of that entire group's incompetence or irrationality.<ref name="Aiken" />

=== Steelmanning ===
A ''steel man argument'' (or ''steelmanning'') is the opposite of a straw man argument. Steelmanning is the practice of applying the rhetorical [[principle of charity]] through addressing the strongest form of the other person's argument, even if it is not the one they explicitly presented. Creating the strongest form of the opponent's argument may involve removing flawed assumptions that could be easily refuted or developing the strongest points which counter one's own position. Developing counters to steel man arguments may produce a stronger argument for one's own position.<ref name="Friedersdorf">{{Cite magazine |last=Friedersdorf |first=Conor |author-link=Conor Friedersdorf |date=26 June 2017 |title=The Highest Form of Disagreement |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-highest-form-of-disagreement/531597/ |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606170314/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-highest-form-of-disagreement/531597/ |archive-date=6 June 2021}}</ref>

== Examples ==
In a 1977 appeal of a U.S. bank robbery conviction, a prosecuting attorney said in his oral argument:<ref name="Bosanac">{{cite book
| last=Bosanac
| first=Paul
| title=Litigation Logic: A Practical Guide to Effective Argument
| publisher=American Bar Association
| date=2009
| page=393
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtH9LNfDIH4C&pg=PA393
| isbn=978-1616327101}}</ref> "I submit to you that if you can't take this evidence and find these defendants guilty on this evidence then we might as well open all the banks and say, 'Come on and get the money, boys,' because we'll never be able to convict them." This was a straw man designed to alarm the appellate judges; the chance that the precedent set by one case would literally make it impossible to convict {{em|any}} bank robbers is remote.

Another example of a strawman argument is U.S. president [[Richard Nixon]]'s 1952 "[[Checkers speech]]".<ref name="Waicukauski">{{cite book |last=Waicukauski |first=Ronald J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyjMncdipPIC&pg=PA61 |title=The Winning Argument |author2=Paul Mark Sandler |author3=JoAnne A. Epps |publisher=American Bar Association |year=2001 |isbn=1570739382 |pages=60–61 |author-link2=Paul Mark Sandler |access-date=25 February 2016}}</ref><ref name="Rottenberg">{{cite book
| last=Rottenberg
| first=Annette T.
|author2=Donna Haisty Winchell
| title=The Structure of Argument
| publisher=MacMillan
| year=2011
| pages=315–316
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gO-OchRgkIYC&pg=PA315
| isbn=978-0312650698
| access-date=25 February 2016}}</ref> When campaigning for vice president in 1952, Nixon was accused of having appropriated $18,000 in campaign funds for his personal use. In a televised response, based on Franklin D. Roosevelt's [[Fala speech]], he spoke about another gift, a dog he had been given by a supporter:<ref name="Waicukauski" /><ref name="Rottenberg" />

{{quote|It was a little cocker spaniel dog, in a crate he had sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted, and our little girl [[Tricia Nixon|Tricia]], six years old, named it Checkers.  And, you know, the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this right now, that, regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it.}}

This was a straw man response; his critics had never criticized the dog as a gift or suggested he return it. This argument was successful at distracting a number of people from the funds and portraying his critics as nitpicking and heartless.  Nixon received an outpouring of public support and remained on the ticket. He and Eisenhower were later elected.

[[Christopher Tindale]] presents, as an example, the following passage from a draft of a bill (HCR 74) considered by the [[Louisiana State Legislature]] in 2001:<ref name="Tindale2007"/>

{{quote|Whereas, the writings of [[Charles Darwin]], the father of evolution, promoted the justification of racism, and his books ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' and ''[[The Descent of Man]]'' postulate a hierarchy of superior and inferior races. ... Therefore, be it resolved that the legislature of Louisiana does hereby deplore all instances and all ideologies of [[racism]], does hereby reject the core concepts of Darwinist ideology that certain races and classes of humans are inherently superior to others, and does hereby condemn the extent to which these philosophies have been used to justify and approve racist practices.}}

Tindale comments that "the portrait painted of Darwinian ideology is a caricature, one not borne out by any objective survey of the works cited." The fact that similar misrepresentations of Darwinian thinking have been used to justify and approve racist practices is beside the point: the position that the legislation is attacking and dismissing is a straw man. In subsequent debate, this error was recognized, and the eventual bill omitted all mention of Darwin and Darwinist ideology.<ref name="Tindale2007"/> Darwin passionately opposed slavery and worked to intellectually confront the notions of "[[scientific racism]]" that were used to justify it.<ref>{{cite book|author=Adrian Desmond and James Moore|year=2009|title=Darwin's Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin's Views on Human Evolution|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt}}</ref>

Throughout the 20th century, and also in the 21st century thus far,<ref>[[Austin Sarat|Sarat, Austin]]. [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/06/22/donald-trump-red-scare-communism-00102990 "Why Donald Trump Says his Enemies are 'Communists{{'"}}]. ''[[Politico]]'', 22 June 2023. {{retrieved|access-date=7 March 2025}}.</ref> there have been innumerable instances when right-wing political leaders and commentators used [[communism]] as a straw man while denouncing the proposals of centrists, moderate liberals, or even moderate conservatives. They sought to portray valid criticism of their own right-wing policies as expressions of communist ideology when in reality, most of the critics in question were not even [[Socialism|socialists]], much less communists. The use of communism as a straw man was a common and effective (though fallacious) talking point by conservative leaders in multiple western countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and most especially the United States.<ref>[https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/mcarthyism-red-scare "McCarthyism and the Red Scare"]. [[Miller Center of Public Affairs]], University of Virginia. {{retrieved|access-date=7 March 2025}}.</ref><ref>Mukhergee, Rudrangshu. [https://m.thewire.in/article/books/how-fear-of-communism-led-to-the-rise-of-hitler-and-nazism "How Fear of Communism Led to the Rise of Hitler, Nazism, and World War Two"]. ''[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]]'', India, 5 November 2021. {{retrieved|access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref><ref>[[Max Boot|Boot, Max]]. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/27/reagan-ideologue-pragmatist-boot/ "Ronald Reagan Was More Ideological – and More Pragmatic – Than You Think"]. ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 27 August 2024. {{retrieved|access-date=7 March 2025}}</ref>

==Etymology==
As a fallacy, the identification and name of straw man arguments are of relatively recent date, although [[Aristotle]] makes remarks that suggest a similar concern.<ref name="Walton"/> [[Isaac Watts]] writes in his ''Logick'' (1724): "They dress up the opinion of their adversary as they please, and ascribe sentiments to him which he doth not acknowledge; and when they have with a great deal of pomp attacked and confounded these images of straw of their own making, they triumph over their adversary as though they had utterly confuted his opinion."<!--Punctuation and capitalisation modernised--><ref>{{cite book|last=Watts|first=Isaac|author-link=Isaac Watts|title=Logick: Or, the Right Use of Reason in the Inquiry After Truth|edition=2nd|year=1726|orig-year=1724|pages=314–315|url=https://archive.org/details/logickorrightuse00wattuoft/page/314/mode/1up|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

[[Douglas N. Walton]] identified "the first inclusion of it we can find in a textbook as an informal fallacy" in [[Stuart Chase]]'s ''Guides to Straight Thinking'' from 1956 (p.&nbsp;40).<ref name="Walton">[[Douglas N. Walton|Douglas Walton]], "[http://web.archive.org/web/20161118030246/http://www.dougwalton.ca/papers%20in%20pdf/96straw.pdf The straw man fallacy]". In ''Logic and Argumentation'', eds. Johan van Bentham, Frans H. van Eemeren, Rob Grootendorst and Frank Veltman. Amsterdam, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, North-Holland, 1996. pp. 115–128</ref><ref name="Tindale2007">{{cite book|first=Christopher W. |last=Tindale|title=Fallacies and Argument Appraisal|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-84208-2|pages=19–28}}</ref> By contrast, [[Charles Leonard Hamblin|Hamblin]]'s classic text ''Fallacies'' (1970) neither mentions it as a distinct type, nor even as a historical term.<ref name="Walton"/><ref name="Tindale2007"/>

The term's origins are a matter of debate, though the usage of the term in rhetoric suggests a human figure made of [[straw]] that is easy to knock down or destroy—such as a [[straw man (dummy)|military training dummy]], [[scarecrow]], or [[effigy]].<ref>{{cite book |first=T.&nbsp;Edward |last=Damer |title=Attacking Faulty Reasoning: A Practical Guide to Fallacy-Free Arguments |publisher=Wadsworth |year=1995 |pages=157–159}}</ref> A common but [[false etymology]] is that it refers to men who stood outside courthouses with a straw in their shoe to signal their willingness to be a false witness.<ref name="brewer">{{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/81/10919.html |last=Brewer |first=E. Cobham |title=Man of Straw (A). |work=[[Dictionary of Phrase and Fable]] |year=1898 |access-date=13 May 2009 }}</ref> The ''Online Etymology Dictionary'' states that the term "man of straw" can be traced back to 1620 as "an easily refuted imaginary opponent in an argument".<ref>{{cite dictionary|url=https://etymonline.com/word/straw%20man|title=straw man |dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref>

===Related usage===
Reverend [[William Harrison (priest)|William Harrison]], in ''A Description of England'' (1577), complained that when men lived in houses of willow they were men of oak, but now they lived in houses of oak and had become men of willow and "a great manie altogither of straw, which is a sore alteration [i.e. a sad change]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harrison |first1=William|author-link=William Harrison (priest)|title=The Description of England: The Classic Contemporary Account of Tudor Social Life|editor-first=George |editor-last=Edelen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4qwDICPz6OoC&dq=oaken&pg=PA276|publisher=[[Folger Shakespeare Library]], [[Dover Publications]]|access-date=14 September 2023|page=276|date=1994|isbn=978-0-486-28275-6}}</ref> The phrase 'men of straw' appears to refer to pampered softness and a lack of character, rather than the modern meaning.

[[Martin Luther]] blames his opponents for misrepresenting his arguments in his work ''[[On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church]]'' (1520):

{|
! Latin
! Unattributed English translation
! Philadelphia Edition translation
|-
|{{lang|la|2=Respondeo, id genus disputandi omnibus familiare esse, qui contra Lutherum scribunt, ut hoc asserant quod impugnant, aut fingant quod impugnent.}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Luther |first1=Martin|author-link=Martin Luther|title=De captivitate ecclesiae babylonica|trans-title=On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church|lang=la|url=http://www.martinluther.dk/CAPT.htm |website=martinluther.dk |publisher=Ricardt Riis |page=section 15 |format=online text based on Weimar Edition, vol. 6, p. 497 |date=1520}}</ref>
|I answer that this kind of discussion is familiar to all who write against Luther, so they can assert (or: 'plant', literally: 'sow') what they attack, or pretend what they attack.
|My answer is, that this sort of argument is common to all those who write against Luther. They assert the very things they assail, or they set up a man of straw whom they may attack.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Luther |first1=Martin |title=Works of Martin Luther : With Introductions and Notes, Volume 2 |date=1915 |publisher=A.J. Holman Company |page=173 |isbn=978-0-7222-2123-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3xIAAAAMAAJ&q=straw&pg=PA170 |access-date=14 September 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Luther |first1=Martin |title=The Babylonian Captivity of the Church [from the Philadelphia Edition of Luther's works] |url=http://www.lutherdansk.dk/web-babylonian%20captivitate/martin%20luther.htm |website=lutherdansk.dk |publisher=Robert E. Smith, Project Wittenberg, Wesley R. Smith, Lucas C. Smith. |access-date=14 September 2023}}</ref>
|}

In the quote, he responds to arguments of the Roman Catholic Church and clergy attempting to delegitimize his criticisms, specifically on the correct way to serve the [[Eucharist]]. The church claimed Martin Luther is arguing against serving the Eucharist according to one type of serving practice; Martin Luther states he never asserted that in his criticisms towards them and in fact they themselves are making this argument. Luther's Latin text does not use the phrase "man of straw", but it is used in a widespread early 20th century English translation of his work, the Philadelphia Edition.<ref>Luther, M. et al. (1915–1943) ''Works of Martin Luther – With Introduction and Notes''. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Philosophy}}
<!-- new links in alphabetical order please -->
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* {{annotated link|Ad hominem}}
* {{annotated link|Begging the question}}
* {{annotated link|Devil's advocate}}
* {{annotated link|Cherry picking}}
* {{annotated link|False attribution}}
* {{annotated link|Misquotation}}
* {{annotated link|Cognitive bias}}
* {{annotated link|Internet troll#Concern troll|Concern troll}}
* {{annotated link|Cratylism}}
* {{annotated link|Quoting out of context|Fallacy of quoting out of context}}
* {{annotated link|List of fallacies}}
* {{annotated link|Media manipulation}}
* {{annotated link|Paper tiger}}
* {{annotated link|Pooh-pooh}}
* {{annotated link|Red herring}}
* [[Don Quixote#Tilting at windmills|Tilting at windmills]] – Idiom meaning "attacking imaginary enemies"
* {{annotated link|Trivial objections}}
}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://fallacycheck.com/fallacy/straw%20man Straw Man] at Fallacy Check, with [https://fallacycheck.com/analyses/straw%20man examples]
* [http://www.fallacyfiles.org/strawman.html The Straw Man Fallacy] at the Fallacy Files
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131122130810/http://www.drury.edu/ess/Logic/Informal/Strawman.html Straw Man], more examples of straw man arguments
* [https://fallacycheck.com/fallacy/nut%20picking Nut picking] at Fallacy Check, with [https://fallacycheck.com/analyses/nut%20picking examples]

{{Fallacies}}

[[Category:16th-century neologisms]]
[[Category:Barriers to critical thinking]]
[[Category:Error]]
[[Category:Martin Luther]]
[[Category:Political metaphors referring to people]]
[[Category:Relevance fallacies]]