Though the examples don’t matter, they do fit.
Everyday arguments regularly leave some premises unstated.
Kafka trap conditions
They are an enemy of the government.
If they object to the policy, then they either hate non-binary gender identities or are secretly non-binary.
If they object to the policy, then they are racist.
Whether they affirm or deny the implicational conditions doesn’t matter.
If they affirm, then the condition (trivially) follows.
If they deny, that’s taken as evidence the condition is true.
Then (by affirming the antecedent they object to the policy) their consequents follow.
I can’t stress enough that your own source says that a Kafka trap is when someone saying “I’m not X” is used as evidence that they are in fact X.
The first example fits. The fact that the person said they aren’t an enemy of the state is used as evidence that they are in fact an enemy of the state.
In the latter two examples, the evidence that a person is in some way bigoted has nothing to do with their claims that they aren’t bigoted.
A school system system implements progressive policies and explains that these policies are intended to improve tolerance of non-binary gender identities. If a parent has concerns that these policies may be resulting in unintended consequences, this is evidence that the parent either hates non-binary gender identities or is secretly non-binary.
How is this an example of someone saying they aren’t X, and that assertion being used as evidence that they are X? The parent in this situation is not saying “I’m not against non-binary people” and then being accused of being against non-binary people because they said that. They’re against policies intended to improve the lives of non-binary individuals, and being accused of being against non-binary people because of that.
Any parent who is not arguing against these policies could make the claim that they are not against non-binary people, and would not be accused of being against non-binary people because of it.
A policing service implements progressive policies and explains that these policies are intended to improve social justice. If a citizen has concerns that these policies may be resulting in unintended consequences, this is evidence that the citizen is racist.
The citizen in this example is not being accused of being racist because they said they aren’t racist. They’re being accused of being racist because they’re against these progressive policies. Any citizen who is not against these progressive policies would not be accused of being racist if they also said that they aren’t racist. These aren’t Kafka traps, by the web page’s own definition.
I can’t stress enough that your own source says that a Kafka trap is when someone saying “I’m not X” is used as evidence that they are in fact X.
Here’s the definition again.
A Kafka trap is a fallacy where if someone denies being x it is taken as evidence that the person is x since someone who is x would deny being x.
Note the keyword if: this definition concerns a conditional statement.
Affirming the conditional statement doesn’t require affirming the antecedent.
What if they are x?
Conclusion trivially follows.
If they aren’t, then they’ll deny.
Neither possibility asserted?
Doesn’t matter, because conditional statement is asserted: all possibilities lead to same conclusion.
That’s the fallacy.
Consider the conditional statement: if the moon is made of cheese, then we can eat it.
Is it true?
Yes.
Is the moon made of cheese?
No.
This isn’t a kafka trap, though I understand the confusion - the fandom site you linked to appears to have a faulty understanding of what it is. To be a kafka trap requires accusation.
The yucky example from your fandom page about a parent criticizing progressive policies to support non-binary students is a great example of how this doesn’t work: for it to be a kafka trap, the accusation that they (hate non-binary/are themselves non-binary) would have to be made in response to their concerns and then their denials be taken as an admission. Just raising them initially is not a kafka trap.
And that isn’t what’s happening in the above comment, either. People aren’t being criticized for defending themselves, people are being criticized for
A: Their behavior while defending themselves
B: That they have self-identified as feeling they themselves were being criticized, or that they feel the behavior in the comic is worth defending.
To be a kafka trap they would have to have been directly accused (“Hey I think you’re a shitty person”) and then because they’re defending themselves (“You say you’re not a shitty person?”) have the conclusion drawn that they are a shitty person (“Only shitty people say they’re not shitty people”).
Criticizing them for feeling that they were the one being accused is not a kafka trap. Were I to say “I think people who are paranoid are bad” and some random passerby were to say “Well I’m for one not bad!” it would be pretty reasonable to draw conclusions about them considering themveslves to be paranoid.
This comic is not criticizing all men. This comic is criticizing men who engage in a depressingly quite common pattern of behavior. There’s an extremely interesting discussion to be had about why that pattern of behavior is so common when so many men aren’t the ones doing it (basically a loud minority can make an outsized impact on broad perceptions) but in their haste to attest to how offended they are, that never seems to be considered.
I don’t doubt that most of the people attacking this comic aren’t at all guilty of what the comic is criticizing. But that doesn’t make the comic at all wrong, or the experiences of the many women in this comment section somehow made up.
A Kafka trap is a fallacy where if someone denies being x it is taken as evidence that the person is x since someone who is x would deny being x.
This is a fallacy because it’s a form of circular reasoning: a person who is not x would truthfully deny being x.
Hence, the fallacy implies if a person is not x, then they are x.
This is logically equivalent to assuming the person is x.
What a way to out yourselves as assholes by acting like this comic is personally attacking you
They are claiming the people who criticize the fallacies in the comic are ‘outing themselves as assholes’ as ‘personally attacked’.
They assume if someone criticizes the comic, then they must be the type of person the comic criticizes.
There’s no possible way the comic has an actual flaw to criticize.
This is a Kafka trap with the condition x as if they criticize the comic, then they are the type of person the comic criticizes.
The trap supposes the condition is always true.
It implies anyone who criticizes the comic must be the type of person the comic criticizes.
By ad hominem fallacy, they proceed to discredit any critic’s claims that the comic could have an actual flaw to criticize.
In symbolic logic
A: the critic criticizes the comic
B: the critic is the type of person the comic criticizes
Cx: the critic claims x
A
¬(A → B) → C¬(A → B)
C¬(A → B) → A → B: Kafka trap premise
¬(A → B) → A → B: 2, 3 hypothetical syllogism
A → B: 4 logical equivalence
B: 1, 5 modus ponens
Whether or not you accept the argument conforms to a Kafka trap, the fact remains they unjustifiably assume faulty premise A → B, conclude B, & proceed to dismiss critics’ objections via apparent ad hominem.
The frequent defense of & blindness to fallacies is an interesting phenomenon that isn’t that mysterious to explain: some people are stubborn, shitty reasoners.
Nice Kafka trap again. The irrational love repeating their fallacies.
And then it lists two examples that don’t fit this definition. I get the feeling Debate Wiki isn’t the best primary source
Though the examples don’t matter, they do fit. Everyday arguments regularly leave some premises unstated. Kafka trap conditions
Whether they affirm or deny the implicational conditions doesn’t matter. If they affirm, then the condition (trivially) follows. If they deny, that’s taken as evidence the condition is true. Then (by affirming the antecedent they object to the policy) their consequents follow.
Another comment shows a treatment in symbolic logic.
I can’t stress enough that your own source says that a Kafka trap is when someone saying “I’m not X” is used as evidence that they are in fact X.
The first example fits. The fact that the person said they aren’t an enemy of the state is used as evidence that they are in fact an enemy of the state.
In the latter two examples, the evidence that a person is in some way bigoted has nothing to do with their claims that they aren’t bigoted.
How is this an example of someone saying they aren’t X, and that assertion being used as evidence that they are X? The parent in this situation is not saying “I’m not against non-binary people” and then being accused of being against non-binary people because they said that. They’re against policies intended to improve the lives of non-binary individuals, and being accused of being against non-binary people because of that.
Any parent who is not arguing against these policies could make the claim that they are not against non-binary people, and would not be accused of being against non-binary people because of it.
The citizen in this example is not being accused of being racist because they said they aren’t racist. They’re being accused of being racist because they’re against these progressive policies. Any citizen who is not against these progressive policies would not be accused of being racist if they also said that they aren’t racist. These aren’t Kafka traps, by the web page’s own definition.
Here’s the definition again.
Note the keyword if: this definition concerns a conditional statement. Affirming the conditional statement doesn’t require affirming the antecedent.
What if they are x? Conclusion trivially follows. If they aren’t, then they’ll deny. Neither possibility asserted? Doesn’t matter, because conditional statement is asserted: all possibilities lead to same conclusion. That’s the fallacy.
Consider the conditional statement: if the moon is made of cheese, then we can eat it. Is it true? Yes. Is the moon made of cheese? No.
(Re)learn logic.
This isn’t a kafka trap, though I understand the confusion - the fandom site you linked to appears to have a faulty understanding of what it is. To be a kafka trap requires accusation.
The yucky example from your fandom page about a parent criticizing progressive policies to support non-binary students is a great example of how this doesn’t work: for it to be a kafka trap, the accusation that they (hate non-binary/are themselves non-binary) would have to be made in response to their concerns and then their denials be taken as an admission. Just raising them initially is not a kafka trap.
And that isn’t what’s happening in the above comment, either. People aren’t being criticized for defending themselves, people are being criticized for
To be a kafka trap they would have to have been directly accused (“Hey I think you’re a shitty person”) and then because they’re defending themselves (“You say you’re not a shitty person?”) have the conclusion drawn that they are a shitty person (“Only shitty people say they’re not shitty people”).
Criticizing them for feeling that they were the one being accused is not a kafka trap. Were I to say “I think people who are paranoid are bad” and some random passerby were to say “Well I’m for one not bad!” it would be pretty reasonable to draw conclusions about them considering themveslves to be paranoid.
This comic is not criticizing all men. This comic is criticizing men who engage in a depressingly quite common pattern of behavior. There’s an extremely interesting discussion to be had about why that pattern of behavior is so common when so many men aren’t the ones doing it (basically a loud minority can make an outsized impact on broad perceptions) but in their haste to attest to how offended they are, that never seems to be considered.
I don’t doubt that most of the people attacking this comic aren’t at all guilty of what the comic is criticizing. But that doesn’t make the comic at all wrong, or the experiences of the many women in this comment section somehow made up.
This is a fallacy because it’s a form of circular reasoning: a person who is not x would truthfully deny being x. Hence, the fallacy implies if a person is not x, then they are x. This is logically equivalent to assuming the person is x.
They are claiming the people who criticize the fallacies in the comic are ‘outing themselves as assholes’ as ‘personally attacked’. They assume if someone criticizes the comic, then they must be the type of person the comic criticizes. There’s no possible way the comic has an actual flaw to criticize.
This is a Kafka trap with the condition x as if they criticize the comic, then they are the type of person the comic criticizes. The trap supposes the condition is always true. It implies anyone who criticizes the comic must be the type of person the comic criticizes.
By ad hominem fallacy, they proceed to discredit any critic’s claims that the comic could have an actual flaw to criticize.
In symbolic logic
Whether or not you accept the argument conforms to a Kafka trap, the fact remains they unjustifiably assume faulty premise A → B, conclude B, & proceed to dismiss critics’ objections via apparent ad hominem.
The frequent defense of & blindness to fallacies is an interesting phenomenon that isn’t that mysterious to explain: some people are stubborn, shitty reasoners.