Middle Ground

Type

Informal

AKA

Argument to Moderation, False Compromise

Description

Assuming the truth must lie between two opposing positions.

Examples

• "One side says the Earth is round, the other says flat. Maybe it's a mix of both."
• "You say it's safe, I say it's dangerous. So it's probably mildly unsafe."

Notes

• The fallacy is the mirror image of False Balance: there, two positions are presented as equally supported when they are not; here, the gap between them is split as though that were a method. Neither is a substitute for looking at the evidence.

Also see

• False Balance
• Nirvana Fallacy
• Certainty, on why "nothing is certain" is not a licence for this

#fallacy