Straw Man

A straw man, also known in the UK as an Aunt Sally, is a type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man"), and to refute it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.

Read more about Straw Man:  Origin, Structure, Examples

Famous quotes containing the words straw and/or man:

    But such is life, the silliest proverbs prove to be true, and when a man thinks, now it’s all right, it’s not all right by a long shot. Man proposes, God disposes, and there’s always that last straw to break the camel’s back.
    Alfred Döblin (1878–1957)

    On neither the sun, nor death, can a man look fixedly.
    François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)