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Poisoning the well

Discrediting a source in advance so that anything they say will be dismissed.

Published 04 August 2026Updated 04 August 2026

Poisoning the well preloads an audience with negative information intended to make every later argument from a person seem unworthy of consideration. A fair evaluation asks whether the advance warning is relevant and still examines the actual reasons given.

Sources

Fallacies (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy / 2024 / Website

Canonical philosophical treatment of fallacy types.