Sophism — An apparently valid but actually fallacious argument, used to deceive. It is distinguished from paralogism (unintentional logical error) by being a deliberate deception intended to persuade. The Sophists (Gorgias, Protagoras) were accused by Plato and Aristotle of selling rhetorical skills without commitment to truth. Aristotle systematized the types of fallacies in the Sophistical Refutations. In contemporary logic, the study of fallacies is part of argumentation theory.
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