Occasional Logic - Appeal to Authority
An Appeal to Authority is a fallacy that follows a form similar to such:
For example:
Joe: "As far as mechanical design goes, Ford is was better than Chevy."
Bill: "Why do you say that?"
Joe: "Phil Smith said so in an article I saw, and he's a lead engineer at NASA."
Bill: "But does he even know anything about cars?"
Joe: "No idea.. but he's an engineer at NASA and I believe him."
Phil Smith is proposed to be an authority on the subject of automotive engineering. In reality, Phil Smith is an engineer that specializes in fluid dynamics. He drives a Lexus and has nothing to do with mechanical design or the auto industry. As a matter of fact, he's never even performed his own oil change. He's far from an authority on automotive design.
Of course, there are many instances where a real authority on a subject matter can be taken seriously. In the example I stated above, if Phil Smith was actually a mechanical engineer and a veteran of the automotive industry, his claims might be taken much more seriously. Either way, the fact of the matter is that Joe's argument didn't rely on Phil Smith's background at all--it relied solely on his title as a "lead engineer at NASA". And that's an Appeal to Authority.
Common appeals to authority happen every day on television. For example, the "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV..." line. In this classic example of an Appeal to Authority, an actor that knows nothing about medicine sponsors a product. The producers of the commercial hope that you will confuse the famous face from TV with a real medical expert.
- Person A is proposed to be an authority on Subject X.
- Person A makes a statment (Claim Z) that is about Subject X.
- Therefore, Claim Z is true.
For example:
Joe: "As far as mechanical design goes, Ford is was better than Chevy."
Bill: "Why do you say that?"
Joe: "Phil Smith said so in an article I saw, and he's a lead engineer at NASA."
Bill: "But does he even know anything about cars?"
Joe: "No idea.. but he's an engineer at NASA and I believe him."
Phil Smith is proposed to be an authority on the subject of automotive engineering. In reality, Phil Smith is an engineer that specializes in fluid dynamics. He drives a Lexus and has nothing to do with mechanical design or the auto industry. As a matter of fact, he's never even performed his own oil change. He's far from an authority on automotive design.
Of course, there are many instances where a real authority on a subject matter can be taken seriously. In the example I stated above, if Phil Smith was actually a mechanical engineer and a veteran of the automotive industry, his claims might be taken much more seriously. Either way, the fact of the matter is that Joe's argument didn't rely on Phil Smith's background at all--it relied solely on his title as a "lead engineer at NASA". And that's an Appeal to Authority.
Common appeals to authority happen every day on television. For example, the "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV..." line. In this classic example of an Appeal to Authority, an actor that knows nothing about medicine sponsors a product. The producers of the commercial hope that you will confuse the famous face from TV with a real medical expert.
posted by Sphaeron at
4:12 PM
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