Saturday, September 18, 2010

Fallacies

Bad appeal to authority: (Almost) anything that ____ says about ____ is (probably) true.
The fallacy I have chosen to discuss is the "Bad appeal to authority" fallacy.  This fallacy deals with many life-like arguments we see everyday.  This fallacy can be found in many different aspects of life, but it deals with those of less authority to agree or listen to those with more authority, just because of what they say and not actually if the argument is good or valid.  Examples could be an adult teaching a child a lesson, or a police officer talking to a child.  I'll admit that when most people think of authority, they usually think of older people talking to younger people, as if older people have more authority than younger.  And why not, that seems to be a common piece of knowledge in our society.  That seems to be the norm.  But in reality, anyone can have authority over others, and therefore anyone can produce a fallacy dealing with this topic.  When I think about this topic, I instantly think of a news anchor reading garbage to the viewers of that channel.  Some of the viewers will take in everything the anchor says, even if its illogical.  Some people though wouldn't just take it in, but rather dissect the information, and deem the information, for themselves as true or false.  However, usually the majority of people will take in the information and let it be.  With this false information in their minds as factual, they could go around spreading misleading information.  All because they believed in a bad appeal to authority.   

1 comment:

  1. I thought appeal to authority was very interesting when I read it in the text. This type of fallacy definitely comes up all the time. Most people just tend to believe everything someone says if they have more authority than them. I know that I have believed something that an authority figure told me and then later found out that it was not true. The example you used was great because so many people believe what the news anchor says. Another example would be children believing everything their parents and teachers say. Overall, your post was easy to understand and I learned more about appeal to authority.

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