The genetic fallacy is a fallacy of irrelevance where a conclusion is suggested based solely on something or someone's origin rather than its current meaning or context. This overlooks any difference to be found in the present situation, typically transferring the positive or negative esteem from the earlier context.

The fallacy therefore fails to assess the claim on its merit. The first criterion of a good argument is that the premises must have bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim in question.^[1] Genetic accounts of an issue may be true, and they may help illuminate the reasons why the issue has assumed its present form, but they are irrelevant to its merits. ^[2]

According to the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, the term originates in Morris Cohen and Ernest Nagel's book Logic and Scientific Method.

[edit] Examples

From Attacking Faulty Reasoning by T. Edward Damer, Third Edition p. 36:

From With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies by S. Morris Engel, Fifth Edition, pg. 196:

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Nizkor: Genetic fallacy
• Fallacies of relevance: Genetic fallacy from atheism web
• Forms of the genetic fallacy
• Fallacy files: Genetic fallacy