The Middle Ground Fallacy
The middle ground fallacy assumes that a compromise between two extreme conflicting points is always true.
Isn't compromise reasonable?
The truth value of a position has nothing to do with where it sits on a spectrum. Splitting the difference between right and wrong gives you something that’s still wrong.
Scenario
Holly said that vaccinations caused autism in children, but her scientifically well-read friend Caleb said that this claim had been debunked and proven false. Their friend Alice offered a compromise that vaccinations cause some autism.
Redressing the Fallacy
Some viewpoints are so reprehensible that there is no good reason to assume the middle ground is better. Between “murder is always wrong” and “murder everyone,” the middle ground of “murder 50 percent of people” is clearly wrong. If your interlocutor assumes the middle ground is correct, invite them to explicitly argue why, rather than assuming it.