Refuting a weakened version of the opponent's position rather than the position itself.
The inverse of the principle of charity. The reliable tell is that the version being refuted is one no advocate has stated, and that quoting an actual advocate would weaken the refutation.
In practice
- A consultation response answers the objection that the scheme would abolish parking, which no objector made, and never reaches the one about the delivery bay.
- A rebuttal quotes an anonymous commenter rather than the report it claims to refute, because the report is more careful.
- Standing
- The inverse of the principle of charity.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Decision-making & Reasoning
- Essay
- The catalogue of predictable errors