Personal Incredulity
Concluding something is false because you personally can't imagine how it could be true.
- informal
The argument from personal incredulity treats one's own inability to grasp or picture how something works as evidence that it isn't so. But the limits of a single person's imagination or knowledge say nothing about what is actually possible or true.
Examples
- “I can't see how something as complex as an eye could evolve step by step, so it simply couldn't have.”
- “There's no way a chip that small could hold thousands of songs — I just don't buy it.”
Why it works & how to counter
Persuasive because “I can't imagine it” feels like a genuine objection. Counter it by noting that the truth of a thing doesn't depend on whether any one person can picture how it works — ask for the actual evidence instead.