Argument from incredulity
Also called: Personal incredulity
Concluding something is false because you can't imagine how it could be true.
How to spot it
Is “I can't see how” offered as the reason?
Example
“I don't see how a computer could write a sonnet, so it can't.”
How to answer it
Your limits aren't the world's. Ask what the evidence says.
Related
- Shifting the burden of proof: Claiming something is true because it hasn't been disproved, and asking others to disprove it.
- Argument from silence: Taking the lack of a record or mention as proof something didn't happen.