argumentum ad crumenam

English

Etymology

Latin

Noun

argumentum ad crumenam (plural argumenta ad crumenam)

1. (rhetoric) The logical fallacy of concluding that a proposition is correct because the person advancing it is rich.
   • 1759, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman:

     That it be known and distinguished by the name and title of the Argumentum Fistulatorium, and no other;—and that it rank here∣after with the Argumentum Baculinum, and the Argumentum ad Crumenam, and for ever hereafter be treated of in the same chapter.

   • 1908 December 19, “An Unsavoury Bait”, in The British Medical Journal, volume 2, number 2503, →JSTOR, page 1832:

     The argumentum ad crumenam, however, is understood wherever there are pockets to appeal to, and even where there are none.

   • 1991 April 12, Philip Howard, “Rhetoric and All That Rot”, in The Times, London:

     An electioneering budget is an argumentum ad crumenam, and most elections in democracies have a strong element of this old argument.

   • 2005 January 19, Jason Long, Biblical Nonsense: A Review of the Bible for Doubting Christians, Lincoln, IN: iUniverse, →ISBN, →OL, page 25:

     Because this rich individual obviously made many correct choices in life, his belief in Jesus, according to the apologist, only makes sense. We call such a ridiculous proposal argumentum ad crumenam, an argument based on wealth.

Synonyms

• argument to the purse

Antonyms

• argumentum ad Lazarum

See also

• Worthington's law (humorous)

References

• Philosophical Society - logical fallacies