The Appeal to Authority Fallacy

Hi,

This week's email is about a common logical fallacy and how you can respond to it.

The information here is from my article on the topic.

Here are the key practical points you should know:

• The appeal to authority is a logical fallacy that occurs when a claim is assumed to be true because it was made by a perceived authority figure.

• A basic example of this is the argument that "an expert proposed this theory, so it must be right".

• To respond to appeals to authority, you can point out the relevant logical flaw, demonstrate that authority figures can be wrong (as in the case of disagreement among experts), and potentially address other issues with the argument (like reliance on false authority).

• Not all arguments involving authority are fallacious, and even fallacious arguments involving authority don't necessarily have a false conclusion.

• To avoid using fallacious appeals to authority, you can focus on evidence (rather than authority), and only mention authority if it's relevant and if you can do so in a logically sound way.

As always, I'm happy to hear your thoughts.

Have a great week,
Itamar