George Scott Fallacy

While not a true fallacy by any dictionary definition, the George Scott Fallacy is invoked when a person accuses a speaker of not actually believing what he or she is saying. For instance, parents regularly convince their children of Santa Claus when they themselves do not believe. An outside observer would be correct in pointing out that the parent does not believe in Santa, but in doing so they would be committing the George Scott Fallacy.

When debating, using the George Scott Fallacy is generally considered a point of concession. Belief in what you're debating should not influence your ability to debate the point. So when the opposition must resort to accusing the debater of not truly believing, they are attacking the debater, not the issue.

The term, "George Scott Fallacy," came from a correspondence between George Scott and George Airy where Scott said, speaking about Samuel Robotham, "I do not for one moment believe that he believes his own theory.[Flat Earth Theory]" While it is possible that Scott could have been right, the point is irrelavent. Rowbotham did not require belief to present his arguements for a flat Earth and Scott is in error criticizing Rowbotham rather than his theory.