# Middle ground

*Also called: Argument to moderation, golden mean fallacy*

- **Cluster:** False choices and ranges — Options and spectrums squeezed out of shape
- **Page:** https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/middle-ground/
- **In Arabic:** https://fallacy.wiki/ar/fallacy/middle-ground.md
- **Licence:** CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

## What it is

Assuming the truth must lie halfway between two positions.

## In the wild

> One side says 10, the other says 0, so the truth is 5.

## How to answer it

Ask what supports the midpoint itself. Compromise is a negotiation tool, not evidence.

## Origin and naming

Known in Latin as 'argumentum ad temperantiam', the argument to moderation. The Greek idea of the golden mean — Aristotle's virtue sitting between excess and deficiency — was about character, not about splitting factual disputes, and the fallacy is what happens when that ethical picture is borrowed into arithmetic.

## More places it shows up

- Marketing wants a launch price of 40, finance wants 20, so the truth is obviously 30.
- One report says the project is on time, the other says it is six months late — call it three months and move on.
- She says the contract is legal, he says it is void; split the difference and sign half of it.
- Two colleagues argue over the headcount, one says five, one says fifteen, so ten is blessed as fact.

## How to spot it

- The midpoint arrives without evidence of its own — it is justified only by being between two other numbers.
- The two anchors are often chosen so the midpoint lands where the speaker wanted it all along.
- Once you notice the average was computed from two opinions rather than from data, the argument is over.

## Nearby

- [False equivalence](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/false-equivalence.md)
- [False dilemma](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/false-dilemma.md)
- [Continuum fallacy](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/continuum.md)

## Read more

- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_to_moderation)
- [Wikipedia — false balance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_balance)

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From fallacy.wiki — a bilingual field guide to 91 logical fallacies, published by phi holdings. Licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse freely with attribution to fallacy.wiki.