Appeal to pity

An appeal to pity (also called argumentum ad misericordiam, the sob story, or the Galileo argument)[1][2] is a fallacy in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent's feelings of pity or guilt. It is a specific kind of appeal to emotion. The name "Galileo argument" refers to the scientist's suffering as a result of his house arrest by the Inquisition.

The appeal to pity fallacy is only committed when the information that elicits an emotional response is not relevant to the conclusion of the argument. For example, if a charity uses images of suffering animals or children to argue for the conclusion that one ought to give more to charity, this is not fallacious because suffering, and our emotional perception of its badness, is relevant to what we morally ought to do. Notice in the examples below that how hard one studied is not relevant to whether the exam was graded correctly, and whether the defendant is in a wheelchair is not relevant to the charge of embezzlement. On the other hand, suffering and our emotional perception of its badness is relevant to our moral obligations.