2. PARALOGISM AND SOPHISM.
“Fallacy” comes from the Latin fallacia, meaning deceptive or erroneous, and therefore a fallacy in logic is any error in reasoning which has an appearance of correctness. If the writer or speaker is himself deceived by the fallacy, then such is called a Paralogism; but if the fallacy is committed by him for the expressed purpose of deceiving others, then such becomes a Sophism. During the time of the Schoolmen the Sophism was in such high repute that it required even a Socrates to puncture this ignominious bubble of vain trickery. In fact, Socrates, the greatest of all pagan educators, led the crusade whichhas relegated to the “logical dust bin” the notion that skill in the art of framing sophisms is a scholarly accomplishment. Many believe modern sophistry to be the chief social and commercial evil of the day, and to Socrates must be given the credit for teaching us to look upon those who would practice sophism with righteous indignation and pronounced disgust. However, paralogism and not sophism is the more legitimate field for the student of logic; his problem being, “What are the common errors which I, as a writer and speaker, must strive to avoid?”