Sophistic & Logic

This stratagem relies on the "guilt by association" fallacy.

The "guilt by association" fallacy and this stratagem both rely on the Euler and Venn diagrams from mathematics/logic.

Original text

If you are confronted with an assertion, there is a short way of getting rid of it, or, at any rate, of throwing suspicion on it, by putting it into some odious category; even though the connection is only apparent, or else of a loose character. You can say, for instance, "That is Manichaeism" or "It is Arianism," or "Pelagianism," or "Idealism," or "Spinozism," or "Pantheism," or "Brownianism," or "Naturalism," or "Atheism," or "Rationalism," "Spiritualism," "Mysticism," and so on. In making an objection of this kind, you take it for granted that the assertion in question is identical with, or is at least contained in, the category cited - that is to say, you cry out, "Oh, I have heard that before"; and  that the system referred to has been entirely refuted, and does not contain a word of truth.