What it is
Substituting sympathy for the person in place of support for the claim.
In the wild
I deserve the promotion, I have had a hard year.
How to answer it
Separate what the person deserves as a person from what the claim earns as a claim.
Emotional pressure
Appeal to pity
Also called Argumentum ad misericordiam
In depth
Origin and naming
From the Latin 'argumentum ad misericordiam', 'argument to mercy'. Logicians gave it a name to mark the substitution of sympathy for support: the hardship is real, but it is not evidence the claim is true.
More places it shows up
You can't fail my son's project — he's been crying about it all week and his grandmother is ill.
The committee should approve my grant despite the thin methodology; I've been pursuing this research for a decade.
Don't ticket the delivery rider; consider how hard his day has already been.
She should be acquitted — look at what the trial itself has already put her through.
How to spot it
- Notice when the story about suffering arrives exactly where the evidence should be.
- Notice when refusing feels like cruelty, even though nothing about the claim changed.
- Notice when the person asking has renamed 'unqualified' as 'deserving.'