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Strained Argument

A Strained Argument is a logical fallacy where someone stretches reasoning beyond its natural limits to support a predetermined conclusion, often creating elaborate and increasingly implausible justifications for beliefs they want to hold regardless of evidence.

Characteristics

Excessive Complexity

  • Unnecessarily convoluted explanations for simple phenomena

  • Multiple layers of assumptions built upon weak foundations

  • Baroque theoretical structures to avoid obvious conclusions

Motivated Reasoning

  • Working backward from desired conclusion to find supporting evidence

  • Ignoring simpler, more plausible explanations

  • Selective use of evidence that supports the preferred narrative

Increasing Implausibility

  • Each additional assumption makes the overall argument less credible

  • Requires the audience to accept multiple unlikely premises

  • Often involves conspiracy-level thinking to maintain coherence

Examples

Conspiracy Theories

Flat Earth Theory: Rather than accept overwhelming evidence for a spherical Earth, proponents create elaborate explanations involving:

  • Global conspiracies among all space agencies

  • Fake satellite imagery and doctored photos

  • Complex theories about light bending and perspective tricks

  • Alternative physics that only apply to their model

Academic Overreach

Postmodern Literary Criticism: Sometimes involves reading extremely specific political meanings into texts where simpler interpretations are more plausible:

  • Finding hidden patriarchal structures in innocent children's stories

  • Elaborate symbolic interpretations that require extensive theoretical apparatus

  • Treating author's explicit statements as deliberately misleading

Political Rationalization

Policy Justification: Politicians defending failed policies might create increasingly strained explanations:

  • "The program would have worked if not for these seventeen unexpected factors"

  • Elaborate economic theories to justify clearly counterproductive measures

  • Redefining success metrics retroactively to claim victory

Why People Create Strained Arguments

Identity Protection

  • Core beliefs become part of personal identity

  • Admitting error feels like admitting fundamental inadequacy

  • Social group membership depends on maintaining certain beliefs

Cognitive Dissonance Reduction

  • Uncomfortable to hold contradictory beliefs

  • Easier to elaborate existing framework than abandon it

  • Investment in previous reasoning creates sunk cost pressure

Intellectual Pride

  • Sophistication perceived as superior to simplicity

  • Complex arguments seem more scholarly or impressive

  • Resistance to "obvious" explanations that might seem naive

Detection Strategies

Occam's Razor Application

  • Compare the complexity of explanations with their explanatory power

  • Simple explanations that account for most evidence are usually preferable

  • Beware of theories that require extensive auxiliary hypotheses

Assumption Counting

  • List all the assumptions an argument requires

  • Evaluate the probability that all assumptions are simultaneously true

  • Consider whether removing any assumption collapses the entire argument

Alternative Hypothesis Testing

  • Actively seek simpler explanations for the same phenomena

  • Test whether contrary evidence can be accommodated

  • Check if the argument is unfalsifiable (making it unscientific)

Ad Hoc Reasoning

  • Adding new assumptions specifically to rescue a theory from contradictory evidence

  • Similar to strained arguments but more reactive than proactive

Confirmation Bias

  • The underlying cognitive bias that often drives strained arguments

  • Seeking information that confirms pre-existing beliefs

Motivated Reasoning

  • The broader category of reasoning designed to reach preferred conclusions

  • Strained arguments are often the product of motivated reasoning

Rationalization

  • Creating post-hoc justifications for decisions made for other reasons

  • Often results in strained arguments when the real reasons are unconscious or unacceptable

Academic Examples

Ptolemaic Astronomy

Historical example where increasingly complex epicycles were added to maintain Earth-centered cosmology rather than adopting the simpler heliocentric model.

Freudian Psychology

Some interpretations involve elaborate symbolic meanings for everyday behaviors, requiring extensive theoretical apparatus that's difficult to test empirically.

Constructive Alternatives

Steel-manning

  • Present the strongest possible version of opposing arguments

  • Focus on the most charitable interpretation of evidence

  • Engage with the best counter-evidence rather than dismissing it

Hypothesis Generation

  • Generate multiple explanations for phenomena

  • Test predictions of different theories against new evidence

  • Remain open to paradigm shifts when evidence accumulates

Intellectual Humility

  • Acknowledge uncertainty and limitations of current understanding

  • Update beliefs proportionally to evidence quality

  • Value truth-seeking over being right

Key Insight

The hallmark of a strained argument is that it requires the audience to accept decreasing plausibility in service of maintaining a predetermined conclusion. While complex phenomena sometimes do require sophisticated explanations, strained arguments typically add complexity without proportional increases in explanatory power or predictive accuracy.