The Hidden-Motte-And-Bailey fallacy: belief in a Bailey inspires someone to invent a Motte and write an article about it. The opinion piece describes the Motte exclusively with no mention of the Bailey. Others read it and nod along happily because it supports their cherished Bailey, and finally they share it with others in an effort to help promote the Bailey.
Example: Christian philosopher describes new argument for the existence of a higher-order-infinity God which bears no resemblance to any Abrahamic God, and which no one before the 20th century had ever conceived of.
Maybe the Motte is strong, maybe it isn’t, but it feels very strong when combined with the Gish Fallacy: the feeling of safety some people (apparently) get by collecting large numbers of claims and arguments, whether or not they routinely toss them out as Gish Gallops at anyone who disagrees. The Gish Fallacy seems to be the opposite of the mathematician’s mindset, for mathematicians know that a single flaw can destroy proofs of any length. While the mathematician is satisfied by a single a short and succinct proof or disproof, the Gish mindset wishes to read a thousand different descriptions of three dozen arguments, with another thousand pithy rejections of their counterarguments, so they’re thoroughly prepared to dismiss the evil arguments of the enemies of truth―or, if the enemy made a good point, there are still 999 articles supporting their view, and more where that came from!
Agreed that hidden-motte-and-baileys are a thing. They may also be caused by pressure not to express the actual belief (in which case, idk if I’d call it a fallacy / mistake of reasoning).
I’m not seeing how they synergise with the ‘gish fallacy’ though.
mathematicians know that a single flaw can destroy proofs of any length
Yes, but the analogy would be having multiple disjunctive proof-attempts which lead to the same result, which you can actually do validly (including with non-math beliefs). (Of course the case you describe is not a valid case of this)
The Hidden-Motte-And-Bailey fallacy: belief in a Bailey inspires someone to invent a Motte and write an article about it. The opinion piece describes the Motte exclusively with no mention of the Bailey. Others read it and nod along happily because it supports their cherished Bailey, and finally they share it with others in an effort to help promote the Bailey.
Example: Christian philosopher describes new argument for the existence of a higher-order-infinity God which bears no resemblance to any Abrahamic God, and which no one before the 20th century had ever conceived of.
Maybe the Motte is strong, maybe it isn’t, but it feels very strong when combined with the Gish Fallacy: the feeling of safety some people (apparently) get by collecting large numbers of claims and arguments, whether or not they routinely toss them out as Gish Gallops at anyone who disagrees. The Gish Fallacy seems to be the opposite of the mathematician’s mindset, for mathematicians know that a single flaw can destroy proofs of any length. While the mathematician is satisfied by a single a short and succinct proof or disproof, the Gish mindset wishes to read a thousand different descriptions of three dozen arguments, with another thousand pithy rejections of their counterarguments, so they’re thoroughly prepared to dismiss the evil arguments of the enemies of truth―or, if the enemy made a good point, there are still 999 articles supporting their view, and more where that came from!
Example: my dad
Agreed that hidden-motte-and-baileys are a thing. They may also be caused by pressure not to express the actual belief (in which case, idk if I’d call it a fallacy / mistake of reasoning).
I’m not seeing how they synergise with the ‘gish fallacy’ though.
Yes, but the analogy would be having multiple disjunctive proof-attempts which lead to the same result, which you can actually do validly (including with non-math beliefs). (Of course the case you describe is not a valid case of this)