Logical Fallacy of Hedging / Hedging Your Bet / Having Your Cake / Failure to Assert / Diminished Claim / Failure to Choose Sides / Talking out of Both Sides of Your Mouth / If by Whiskey

Hedging is one of the many smokescreens that are used to cover the fact that the reasoning is based on one of the three fallacies of Agrippa's trilemma. Whenever a logical fallacy is committed, the fallacy has its roots in Agrippa's trilemma. All human thought (without Divine revelation) is based on one of three unhappy possibilities. These three possibilities are infinite regression, circular reasoning, or axiomatic thinking. This problem is known as Agrippa's trilemma. Some have claimed that only logic and math can be known without Divine revelation; however, that is not true. Without Divine revelation, neither logic nor math can be known. Science is also limited to the pragmatic because of the weakness on human reasoning, which is known as Agrippa's trilemma.

The logical fallacy of hedging occurs when a claim or theory is stated in unclear terms so that it can be refined or changed to avoid evidence against it. 

Examples of the Logical Fallacy of Hedging / Hedging Your Bet / Having Your Cake / Failure to Assert / Diminished Claim / Failure to Choose Sides / Talking out of Both Sides of Your Mouth / If by Whiskey

Live Science article: “Fairness May Have Evolved from Spite.” (Source)

How could fairness have evolved? This is a problem for the big-bang-billions-of-years-molecules-to-man story. The statement from Life Sceince seems like it says something, but it says nothing. It is a bit of fluffy hedge-type language that can be used to move the goal posts if anyone challenges it.

PNAS Commentary: "In particular, much remains unknown about what forms of prebiotic organic chemistry could have been possible at vents, and whether they could have produced abundant biological precursors. (Source)

Notice the use of the word could in two places. the statement says nothing, but it seems to be telling us something. This is how hedging is used in the scientific peer-reviewed journals.

Bill Nye arguing against Creation science: "There is not a single place in the Grand Canyon where the fossils of one type of animal cross over into the fossils of another. In other words, when there is a big flood on the Earth, you would expect drowning animals to swim up to a higher level. Not any one of them did. Not a single one. where the fossils of one type of animal cross over into the fossils of another. In other words, when there is a big flood on the Earth, you would expect drowning animals to swim up to a higher level."

The vagueness of this statement makes it difficult to answer. It is a fallacy of ambiguity that is caused by his habit of using innuendo rather that stating things clearly. Innuendo is often used as a hedging tactic by people who don't have a real reason to believe what they believe. What is meant by fossils of one type of animal cross over into the fossils of another? There is a lot of mixing of fossils. Is Bill just plain lying? If you were to ask, he could easily modify or redefine his terms in such a way that they would not be a lie--but the statement would then make no point at all. Here, he is able to make a big point with emotional impact that conveys a false impression, but he has hedged his bet in such a way that he can "clarify" (in a corner where few people will see it) and still have the benefit of fooling most of the people. It is quite plain that those animals that were more mobile did seem to escape and are found mostly in the upper layers. There is a lot of mixing though, but that is to be expected. It seems that Bill is implying that there is a conflict when no conflict or contradiction exists. Discoveries are constantly being made of fossils that are not where they are supposed to be, and none of the elite ever dare to question the big-bang-billions-of-years-molecules-to-man story. They simple shoehorn the new data into the story.

• http://creation.com/geologic-column-general-order
• http://creation.com/fossils-wrong-place
• http://creation.com/the-fossil-record