Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

The fallacy of appeal to authority (or argument from authority) is referring to cases where the authority status is unrelated to the field of the argument. It is not a fallacy to assign higher credence to a statement of an expert in the relevant field relative to outsider with no relevant expertise.

I once read an article relating to farming practices which evoked from me reaction similar to yours, those smartypants archeologists are surely imagining entire worlds on the basis of small piece of insignificant broken metal. I read the entire paper just to prove myself I was right, and reading the forensic methods used for corroborating the thesis was very effective humbling lesson




> The fallacy of appeal to authority is referring to cases where the authority status is unrelated to the field of the argument.

This is called "appeal to false authority" fallacy. A member of this family (but not the only member)

> It is not a fallacy to assign higher credence to a statement of an expert in the relevant field relative to outsider with no relevant expertise.

Wrong. It depends on context. Check the definition again, is wider than you think.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: