- Galileo Gambit
The Galileo Gambit is a
rhetorical technique sometimes used by proponents ofdenialist [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95960,00.html Fox News August 29 2003] [http://web.archive.org/web/19981203050017/www.junkscience.com/news/jacobs.html Chemical and Engineering News June 30 1997] [http://timlambert.org/2005/06/brignell4/ Deltoid June 8 2005] or pseudo-scientific positions, such as theIntelligent Design /Creationist movement. [http://evolutionblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/dizikes-on-galileo-groupies.html Evolutionblog February 3 2006] [http://wiki.cotch.net/index.php/Galileo_Wannabe EvoWiki]The technique consists of pointing out that important scientific theories were often dismissed out of hand when they were first proposed. A commonly used example is the Heliocentric Theory.
The writer or speaker then compares their own theory with that of
Galileo and implies that they are similarly advancing a valid theory which is being rejected without being fully considered. They also seek to imply that those rejecting their theory are close-minded and lacking vision. [http://oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/03/galileo-gambit.html Respectful Insolence March 28 2005] [http://info-pollution.com/Galileo.htm The Info-pollution Lexicon] [http://rockstarramblings.blogspot.com/2006/07/doggerel-28-they-laughed-at-real.html The Bronze Blog July 19 2006]The term seems to have been originated by [http://www.scienceblogs.com/insolence Respectful Insolence]
In specialist fields, other terms such as the "Semmelweis Gambit" have been used to describe similar techniques. [http://interverbal.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html Interverbal May 24 2006]
See also
*
Denialism
*Pseudoscience
*Fallacy References
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