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Fallacy: Middle Ground
Also Known as: Golden Mean Fallacy, Fallacy of Moderation
This fallacy is committed when it is assumed that the middle position
between two extremes must be correct simply because it is the middle
position. this sort of "reasoning" has the following form:
This line of "reasoning" is fallacious because it does not
follow that a position is correct just because it lies in the middle of
two extremes. This is shown by the following example. Suppose that a
person is selling his computer. He wants to sell it for the current
market value, which is $800 and someone offers him $1 for it. It would
hardly follow that $400.50 is the proper price.
This fallacy draws its power from the fact that a moderate or middle
position is often the correct one. For example, a moderate amount of
exercise is better than too much exercise or too little exercise.
However, this is not simply because it lies in the middle ground between
two extremes. It is because too much exercise is harmful and too little
exercise is all but useless. The basic idea behind many cases in which
moderation is correct is that the extremes are typically "too
much" and "not enough" and the middle position is
"enough." In such cases the middle position is correct almost
by definition.
It should be kept in mind that while uncritically assuming that the
middle position must be correct because it is the middle position is
poor reasoning it does not follow that accepting a middle position is
always fallacious. As was just mentioned, many times a moderate position
is correct. However, the claim that the moderate or middle position is
correct must be supported by legitimate reasoning.
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Description of Middle Ground
Examples of Middle Ground
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