The term Reductio ad Hitlerum was originally coined by University of Chicago Classics professor and ethicist Leo Strauss. The phrase comes from the more well-known logical argument, reductio ad absurdum.
The "reductio ad Hitlerum" fallacy is a special case of the genetic fallacy, of the form "Adolf Hitler, or the Nazi party, supported X, therefore X must be evil".
The fallacious nature of this argument is best illustrated by identifying "X" as something that Adolf Hitler or his minions did support but is not considered evil, setting X = "vegetarianism" or X = "breathing in and out". Those policies advocated by Hitler and his party which are generally considered evil can all be condemned on other, logically solid, grounds.
The phrase appears in Leo Strauss's writings in the 1950 Natural Right and History , Chapter II:
- "In following this movement towards its end we shall inevitably reach a point beyond which the scene is darkened by the shadow of Hitler. Unfortunately, it does not go without saying that in our examination we must avoid the fallacy that in the last decades has frequently been used as a substitute for the reductio ad absurdum: the reductio ad Hitlerum. A view is not refuted by the fact that it happens to have been shared by Hitler."
See also
Last updated: 08-22-2005 15:13:55
