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An appeal to authority is perfectly reasonable if the person in question is actually an authority in the topic discussed. The logic fallacy you probably meant i
by bildung 9y ago
An appeal to authority is perfectly reasonable if the person in question is actually an authority in the topic discussed. The logic fallacy you probably meant is about appeals to authority in cases where the authority is in another domain.
- neltnerb 9y agoYeah, if I'm going to be wrong I'd rather be wrong alongside a bunch of people who are way more qualified than me to guess. What's the P-value on trust in expert advice improving outcomes? For every case where the "x was wrong" there are 1000 non-controversial cases where x was right.
- torstenvl 9y agoNo. An appeal to authority is always fallacious. Your heuristic may be useful, but it is just that - a heuristic, not an argument.
- bildung 9y ago> No. An appeal to authority is always fallacious. Says who? ;) > Your heuristic may be useful, but it is just that - a heuristic, not an argument. Indeed, but in many but the most trivial cases (stuff like newtonian physics, or computer science, where most arguments are easily falsifiable) heuristics is all we have. Just look at the set of comments we are currently part of, e.g. many of the p-value posts, or the criticism of the small sample size. Those are valid arguments, but also wrong. But how can someone not trained in empirical science find out? Relying on an authority (relevant to the topic at hand) is a valid way to be wrong less often. To put it pointedly: How do you know its always fallacious? Have you actually proved it yourself, or is this from a textbook/the internet, e.g. - from an authority? ;)