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On the other hand, calling someone out for un-credentialed analysis often amounts to an argument from authority. The GP's point about overhead would have been m
by soVeryTired 8y ago
On the other hand, calling someone out for un-credentialed analysis often amounts to an argument from authority. The GP's point about overhead would have been made just as well without the ad-hominem.
- Vinnl 8y agoAn argument from authority is a fallacy when you assert authority from irrelevant credentials, e.g. when someone uses the fact that they're a scientist to lend credibility to their claims about climate change, even though they're an economist. That doesn't apply here.
- soVeryTired 8y agoI don't agree. Any argument that takes the form "Trust me because of who I am" rather than "Trust me because of the following evidence..." is also an argument from authority.
- Vinnl 8y agoIt's not so much "Trust me because of who I am" but "Trust me because of what I know". If "what I know" isn't actually relevant to the subject discussed, then that's fallacious. Of course, an appeal to authority is not a valid method of obtaining new knowledge (an authority would be able to formulate the actual arguments that support it). It is a useful method to defer judgment, however, such as when the authority cannot be expected to come in and explain their reasoning in a Hacker News comment.