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What do you call an argument/position that is impossible to counter because it depends on undefined adjectives/adverbs?

Examples:

Good websites are the ones that are effectively designed.

Well managed businesses rarely go out of business.

It's similar to tautology, but I'm not sure that's correct.

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    "Vague"? See also "no true Scotsman"
    – augurar
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 3:33
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    I'd call it "begging the question"... :)
    – cHao
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 3:58
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    "The only way to win the game is by scoring more points than the other team. If they can't do that, they'll lose."
    – Kit Z. Fox ♦
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 4:15
  • These are not impossible to counter. A well designed website may crash constantly, and therefore not be a good website. A well managed business may find their market decimated by unforeseeable and uncontrollable circumstances. Those adjectives/adverbs have definitions, but they are quite high up the ladder of abstraction. If they were more specific, e.g. 'businesses with a budget and an experienced manager rarely go out of business' then a counter argument could have something against which to gain purchase. Perhaps positions such as these just bland, and lacking in insight.
    – silves89
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 12:26
  • @KitFox Clearly not a golfer...
    – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 15:43

6 Answers 6

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I would say those are near-tautologies, and certainly truisms.

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Axiomatic is another fine choice here. It means self-evident and beyond requiring proof.

Link to dictionary definition.

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    +1 because you're right. But why not just cut&paste the actual "Self-evident or unquestionable" definition from your link, instead of rephrasing it? And if you highlighted that text (or better, the headword Axiomatic), you wouldn't even need the words "Link to dictionary definition".
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 5:49
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    @Fumble it was more of don't just take my word for it … and I like to make things idiot proof (at least until someone builds a better idiot). Plus, I was trying to expand the verbiage to avoid landing in the low-quality post queue. SE historically offers no reward for brevity!
    – David M
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 12:47
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    I overuse this word a lot. It's one of my favourites! +1
    – Cruncher
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 14:57
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    @Cruncher "I overuse this word a lot". I see what you did there!
    – terdon
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 16:45
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A circular argument is one where the conclusion is also one of the premises:

Good websites are the ones that are effectively designed.

In other words, in premise / conclusion form:

If a website is effectively designed, then it is good.

This is essentially defining good to be equivalent of effective, therefore the conclusion is the premise.

Well managed businesses rarely go out of business.

In premise / conclusion form, this is:

If a business is well managed, then it is likely to continue to operate.

Or, stating the implicit premise,

If a business continues top operate AND it operates in a well managed fashion, then it is likely to continue to operate.

Circular argument is also known as circular logic and circular reasoning.

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  • It is a nice answer and I came up with this idea when I did a research also, though circular reasoning begins with what they are trying to end with. It is almost like saying something in other words in the latter part, and sometimes repeating. In my opinion, it does not fit to the examples. For example: good website is not another way of saying effectively designed website, they have different connotations. So in your answer, it seems like you did circular reasoning for circular reasoning :) Some fallacies are really close to each other also.
    – ermanen
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 17:08
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I would say that the argument is irrefutable. Indisputable has the same connotation.

And a word that I would actually use to describe your example phrases and not so much the question is cliché.

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  • Stop making me agree with you. Our relationship is based entirely upon endless arguments!
    – David M
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 4:21
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Following Kant, it is also sometimes called an analytic proposition.

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Then there's "res ipsa loquitur", the thing speaks for itself.

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