pathetic fallacy
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pathetic fallacy
Where it comes from
Coined by British cultural critic John Ruskin in 1856 in his work Modern Painters. Here, fallacy does not refer to a logical fallacy but should be understood as “a falsehood, something that is untrue”, while pathetic here means “caused by an excited state of the feelings”; thus, “emotional misrepresentation”, not “contemptible illogic”.
noun pathetic fallacies
- The attribution of human thoughts and feelings to inanimate objects. Taking, therefore, this wide field, it is surely a very notable circumstance, to begin with, that this pathetic fallacy is eminently characteristic of modern painting. For instance, Keats, describing a wave, breaking, out at sea, says of it Down whose green back the short-lived foam, all hoar, Bur
Talk about this word "pathetic fallacy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pathetic%20fallacy. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026. pathetic fallacy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pathetic%20fallacy "pathetic fallacy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pathetic%20fallacy.Cite this
@misc{pathetic_fallacy_2026,
title = {pathetic fallacy},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pathetic%20fallacy},
urldate = {2026-11-07}
}
