SOPHISTRY

sophism, sophistry, sophistication

(noun) a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

sophistry (countable and uncountable, plural sophistries)

(uncountable) Cunning, sometimes manifested as trickery.

• "Such conduct is at any rate not sophistical, if Aristotle be right in describing sophistry as the art of making money." 1844 - Søren Kierkegaard in Philosophical Fragments (Philosophiske Smuler eller En Smule Philosophi)

(uncountable) The art of using deceptive speech or writing.

(countable) An argument that seems plausible, but is fallacious or misleading, especially one devised deliberately to be so.

Source: Wiktionary

Soph"ist*ry, n. Etym: [OE. sophistrie, OF. sophisterie.]

1. The art or process of reasoning; logic. [Obs.]

2. The practice of a sophist; fallacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only. The juggle of sophistry consists, for the most part, in usig a word in one sense in the premise, and in another sense in the conclusion. Coleridge.

Syn.

– See Fallacy.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition