reductio ad Hitlerum

English

Etymology

Coined by Leo Strauss in 1951, by analogy with reductio ad absurdum.

Noun

reductio ad Hitlerum (plural reductio ad Hitlerums)

1. An attempt to invalidate someone else's argument on the basis that the same idea was promoted or practiced by Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party.
   • 2018, Carl Miller, chapter 7, in The Death of the Gods […] , William Heinemann, →ISBN:

     Just on Twitter alone, there were too many arguments, too many reductio ad Hitlerums for me to handle alone.

See also

• Godwin's law
• play the Nazi card