fallacy

Argument from incredulity

Also called: Personal incredulity, Argument from personal incredulity

The argument from incredulity concludes that something is false because it is hard to imagine or understand.

How it works

Our ability to picture something is not a test of whether it is true. Many well-established facts, from deep time to quantum physics, are hard to imagine.

Examples

"I can't see how a tiny virus could shut down whole countries, so the danger must be exaggerated."

Difficulty imagining the mechanism does not reduce the evidence for it.

"There's no way people landed on the moon with 1960s computers."

Personal disbelief is not evidence against well-documented events.

How to spot it

"I just can't believe..." or "there's no way...".
Surprise is offered as evidence.
No specific flaw in the evidence is identified.

How to respond

Ask what specific evidence is doubted and why.
Explain the mechanism step by step.
Point out that intuition is unreliable at unfamiliar scales.