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I've heard though unreliable sources that it's the nirvana fallacy, list of logical fallacies:

solutions to problems are rejected because they are not perfect.

Although, this doesn't quite fit. I've really only heard an appeal to futility called a logical fallacy in vegan spheres. So I question the validity about if and how it constitutes a logical fallacy. References would be great!

Related question

Are there any notable works that touch on pursuing a moral good that is likely futile?

adamaero
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  • Related [What fallacy argues that we should do nothing because we can not do everything?](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/q/41875/9148) It would help if you described in the post what "appeal to futility" is supposed to be. That we shouldn't do X because doing it is futile is perfectly valid, it is also sound if doing X is *indeed* futile. Even if it is not we only have a false premise, not an invalid argument, i.e. a fallacy. The fallacy in such cases is typically in the part that infers futility (by dismissing small steps, for example), but that is not done by appeal *to* futility. – Conifold Jan 30 '21 at 06:25

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Yes, it's different from the nirvana fallacy. The nirvana fallacy is: "X is the ideal perfect goal; Y is a proposed solution that fails to completely achieve X; therefore Y is not worth doing." e.g. "World peace would be ideal; this peace treaty fails to completely achieve world peace; therefore this peace treaty is not worth doing."

The fallacy you call "appeal to futility" is, "X is the ideal perfect goal; there is no possible perfect solution Y that completely achieves X; therefore X is not worth attempting." e.g. "World peace would be ideal; there is no conceivable peace treaty or other action that would completely achieve world peace; therefore, there's no point in working towards world peace."

It's fallacious, yes. Although a goal may not be achieved fully, there can still be value in striving for it, because the effects of doing so are good. For a simple example, when we shoot arrows on a range we aim for the perfect center of the target. We're never going to hit the absolute perfect center, which is a point of 0 size, but trying to hit the perfect center helps us to get closer to it and shoot more accurately.

causative
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Many logical fallacies are only fallacies in specific circumstances. Appeal to futility is only a fallacy if the situation is not actually futile. If the situation is (apparently) futile, the Best answer is to save your resources for another problem.

Kaiser Basileus
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