Word magic

{{logic}}
{{cquote|[[Immanuel Kant|Kant]] objects that existence is not a predicate. A hundred thalers that I merely imagine, he says, have all the same predicates as a hundred real thalers.|||[[Bertrand Russell]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Russell|first1=Bertrand|date=2009|title=History of Western Philosophy: Collector's Edition|isbn=0415478812|publisher=Routledge|page=569}} The book was first published in 1945.</ref>}}
'''Word magic''' is a [[logical fallacy]] that occurs when it is assumed that an entity exists, because the word for it exists.

The fallacy is a form of [[mistaking the map for the territory]] and an [[informal fallacy]].

==Explanation==
There are words for [[God]], [[reptoid]]s, the [[NWO]], [[unicorn]]s, Klingons, [[Fun:Fairies|faeries]], the [[FSM]], [[UFO]]s, the [[Celestial Teapot]], and [[Bigfoot]]. Are they all real?

Oh, you want a little more detail? Okay. The fact that a word has been invented merely means that the concept that word represents is conceivable by the human mind — in other words, that it is possible to ''imagine'' the existence of that thing. It does ''not'' necessarily mean that the thing which embodies that concept actually exists. The word "dog" represents nothing more or less than the concept of a dog. However, dogs exist, and their existence is readily observable by just about anybody. The word "god" represents nothing more or less than the concept of a god. However, humanity has not yet found any way to observe the existence of a god, nor has it found a way to completely disprove the possibility that a god exists; no gods have ever made contact with humans in a way that is [[Authenticity of divine revelation|unambiguously a communication from a god]] (rather than a non-god entity or a simple [[delusion]]), nor has any technology developed by humans been able to find any evidence for or against the existence of a god. Given that gods are by definition [[supernatural]] entities (which, by definition, means that they are not explainable by science), it is ''highly'' unlikely that the existence of a god will ''ever'' be definitively proved or disproved.

==See also==
*[[Appeal to consequences]]
*[[Essentialism]]
*[[Etymological fallacy]]
*[[Mistaking the map for the territory]]
*[[Sapir-Whorf hypothesis]]
*[[Wishful thinking]]
*Word magic is not to be confused with [[Max Tegmark]]'s ultimate ensemble hypothesis, which holds that anything that can be mathematically defined and is computable exists. "Word magic" does not require the concept named to be logically consistent, so it is a fallacy.

==External links==
*[http://www.seekfind.net/Logical_Fallacy_of_Word_Magic.html Logical Fallacy of Word Magic], [[SeekFind.net]] — unintentional examples of fallacious uses of word magic, i.e., [[fundamentalist Christian]] confusion about the difference between [[scientific]] terminology and [[word magic]]
*[http://www.ditext.com/fearnside/fallacy.html Word Magic], W. WARD FEARNSIDE & WILLIAM B. HOLTHER
*[http://www.philosophyinaction.com/academic/fallacies.html#conceptual word magic], Philosophy in Action
*[http://www.logicallyfallacious.com/index.php/b-list-fallacies Word Magic], Logically Fallacious

==References==
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[[Category:Informal fallacies]]
[[Category:Pseudolinguistics]]

Categories: Informal fallacies, Pseudolinguistics