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Topic: Argument from authority

Related Topics

Affirming a disjunct

Separation of church and state

Validity

Induction (philosophy)

Disjunctive syllogism

Inductive reasoning

Hypothetical syllogism

Deductive reasoning

Syllogism

Prior Analytics

Prediction

Morality

Sodomy law

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	Issue/position/argument - dKosopedia
		Any argument that backs a position, especially with evidence which can then be refuted, cited by others, or simply used to refer to more sources) should be included on the position page, ideally marked out as its own separate section.
		Arguments rarely deserve their own pages unless they are very commonly heard and have become a topic of debate in themselves.
		publisher, and the authority by which that source is known to have made that statement, e.g.
	www.dkosopedia.com /wiki/Issue/position/argument (942 words)

	Pseudoscientific Argument
		An argument versus authority questions the author of the argument, citing reasons why the author should not serve as the sole or definitive spokesperson on a particular topic.
		Authority-based arguments necessarily call into question the legitimacy of claims insofar as those claims might be generated by someone who should not or does not have the power to make those claims.
		The argument from authority "was the one [kind of argument] most widely used in circles hostile to free, scientific research.
	www.srmhp.org /archives/pseudoscientific-argument.html (1420 words)

	Appeal to authority - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		An appeal to authority or argument by authority is a type of argument in logic, consisting on basing the truth value of an otherwise unsupported assertion on the authority, knowledge or position of the person asserting it.
		Arguments that (fallaciously) rely on the objectionable aspects of the person for the truth of the conclusion are discussed under ad hominem.
		An appeal to authority is a logical fallacy: authorities can be wrong, both in their own field and in other fields; therefore referencing authority does not automatically imply truth.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Appeal_to_authority (1583 words)

	Evidence/source/authority - dKosopedia
		To restrict accepting authority to extremely limited contexts such as validating specific sources of certain types of evidence, is one way to ensure that conflicts over which authority to accept, does not become overly fractious.
		So while there is dispute over the authority and the degree to which it might have divinely inspired the source, there is no dispute that this is evidence, and it is certainly admissible in all arguments made for and about those who believe in the Bible as a source of moral values and moral examples.
		These extremely specific rules about evidence, sources, and authority, have evolved because of extreme abuses of these to advance courtroom arguments in favour of positions that turned out, later, to be provably false or unfair to the defendant or community.
	www.dkosopedia.com /wiki/Evidence/source/authority (424 words)

	Ad Verecundiam
		Abstract: The argument from irrelevant appeal to authority is characterized and shown to be sometimes persuasive but normally fallacious.
		Proper experts and authorities render valuable opinions in their fields and, ceteris paribus, should be believed when we are unable to come to a conclusion on more secure grounds.
		To qualify as an authority, the individual must be generally recognized by peers in the same field when the peers hold a similar view.
	philosophy.lander.edu /logic/authority.html (496 words)

	Soft versus Hard Evidence; Appeal to Authority etc.
		Authority and reputation are sometimes useful, as will be discussed in section 3, but at best they provide only soft evidence, always inferior to hard scientific evidence.
		One could cite lots of authorities as the basis for “knowing" that it is impossible to design a voltmeter with input noise less than √h’.
		A fine example of the role of authority is as follows: suppose a civilization that has never had roads or traffic suddenly invents them.
	www.av8n.com /physics/authority.htm (1933 words)

	Authority (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
		The authority is justified in issuing the commands and attempting to force people to comply with the commands while the subjects have some kind of duty not to interfere with these activities or comply with the commands.
		And the idea of legitimate authority as an authority that has a right to rule over subjects who owe obedience to the authority and that has a right not to be interfered with by foreigners is surely an importantly distinct and perhaps ideal type of authority, which is rarely implemented.
		The most demanding notion of authority is the idea of a political authority that has a right to rule that correlates with a duty to obey that is owed to the authority and that is a content independent and preemptive duty.
	plato.stanford.edu /entries/authority (14145 words)

	Logical Fallacy: Appeal to Misleading Authority
		The "authority" cited is not an expert on the issue, that is, the person who supplies the opinion is not an expert at all, or is one, but in an unrelated area.
		Since not all arguments from expert opinion are fallacious, some authorities on logic have taken to labelling this fallacy as "appeal to inappropriate or irrelevant or questionable authority", rather than the traditional name "appeal to authority".
		Certainly, when evaluating an appeal to authority for cogency, the first step one should take is to verify that the authority is cited correctly.
	www.fallacyfiles.org /authorit.html (1663 words)

	Summa Theologica \| Christian Classics Ethereal Library (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		Nor does this take away from the dignity of this doctrine, for although the argument from authority based on human reason is the weakest, yet the argument from authority based on divine revelation is the strongest.
		Hence sacred doctrine makes use also of the authority of philosophers in those questions in which they were able to know the truth by natural reason, as Paul quotes a saying of Aratus: "As some also of your own poets said: For we are also His offspring" (Acts 17:28).
		Nevertheless, sacred doctrine makes use of these authorities as extrinsic and probable arguments; but properly uses the authority of the canonical Scriptures as an incontrovertible proof, and the authority of the doctors of the Church as one that may properly be used, yet merely as probable.
	www.ccel.org /ccel/aquinas/summa.FP_Q1_A8.html (750 words)

	CompleteTranslations.com :: View topic - How to recognize poor arguments
		This is attacking the arguer and not the argument.
		Arguments that simply state the position of another person without explanation carry little weight.
		Arguments are not valid based on bad things that would otherwise happen.
	www.completetranslations.com /_phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=258 (937 words)

	talk.origins/Evolution Echo Jargon File 'A'
		An argument which relies upon denigrating the opponent and then asserting or implying that such an unworthy arguer could not have a valid argument.
		An argument of the form "the proposition X must be true because Y, a recognized authority, says it is true," as a substitute for actual evaluation of X. In conjunction with other evidence, the argument can help support a conclusion by demonstrating that others have come to the same result.
		An argument which arrogates omniscience to the arguer, who claims that because he or she cannot postulate a mechanism for a phenomenon that no such mechanism can exist.
	www.talkorigins.org /origins/jargon/jargonfile_a.html (954 words)

	Ad Verecundiam
		A further complication is that a given authority may have published reams of studies on a topic; referring to the person is a common shorthand for referring to his/her body of work (or the subset thereof which is sound scientific argument rather than mere conjecture).
		In fact we invariably make arguments from authority every time we refer to anything we have read or learned but not personally witnessed or deductively proven, and our advance as a civilization is based on that.
		The arguments that favor cases where the appeal results in a correct course miss the point: as mentioned previously, argumentum ad verecundiam means "appeal to reverence".
	c2.com /cgi/wiki?AdVerecundiam (2165 words)

	Appeal to authority (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		An appeal to authority is a type of argument in logic also known as argument from authority, argumentum ad verecundiam (Latin: argument to respect) or ipse dixit (Latin: he himself said it, where an unsupported assertion depends on the asserter's credibility).
		This is the case when a person presenting a position on a subject mentions Some authority who also holds that position, but who is not an authority in that area.
		Authoritarian ethics is the ethical theory by which one attains ethical knowledge from an authority, for example from a God or from the law.
	appeal-to-authority.area51.ipupdater.com (663 words)

	Authority Quotes & Quotations compiled by GIGA
		A man in authority is but as a candle in the wind, sooner wasted or blown out than under a bushel.
		An argument from authority is but a weak kind of proof,--it being but a topical probation, and an inartificial argument depending on naked asseveration.
		The accidental prescriptions of authority, when time has procured them veneration, are often confounded with the laws of nature, and those rules are supposed coeval with reason, of which the first rise cannot be discovered.
	www.giga-usa.com /quotes/topics/authority_t001.htm (570 words)

	Douglas N. Walton: Appeal to Expert Opinion
		Reliance on authority has always been a common recourse in argumentation, perhaps never more so than today in our highly technological society when knowledge has become so specialized-as manifested, for instance, in the frequent appearance of "expert witnesses" in courtrooms.
		Challenging an argument based on expert scientific opinion, for example, has become as difficult as it once was to question religious authority.
		Throughout the book, a historical survey of the key developments in the evolution of the argument from authority, dating from the time of the ancients, is given, and new light is shed on current problems of "junk science" and battles between experts in legal argumentation.
	www.psupress.org /books/titles/0-271-01694-9.html (344 words)

	April's CR Diary: Argument from Authority
		"Argument from authority is always a fallacy, even when authority is speaking within its realm of expertise." -- MR MR is always telling us, on list and off, that just because so-and-so recommended it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, or eat, or believe.
		Whether the authority is the American Heart Association, Aubrey de Grey, God, or someone's great-uncle who lived to be 102 and drank, smoked and ate pork rinds every day of his very long life, argument from authority is not evidence.
		In decisions that aren't life and death, sometimes it's okay to turn to a respected authority, but you still wouldn't claim that the authority is "right" just on the basis of who he or she is.
	www.mprize.org /blogs/archives/2006/10/argument_from_a.html (919 words)

	Appeal to Authority (argumentum ad verecundium) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		While sometimes it may be appropriate to cite an authority to support a point, often it is not.
		An argument from hearsay is an argument which depends on second or third hand sources.
		Point out that either (i) the person cited is not an authority in the field, or that (ii) being an expert in the field doesn't automatically make one right and insist that the argument advanced be addressed without the appeal to authority.
	www.goodart.org /aa.htm (325 words)

	Argument Quotes \| Argument Quotations \| Argument Sayings \| Wisdom Quotes
		Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
		Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory.
		Put the argument into a concrete shape, into an image, some hard phrase, round and solid as a ball, which they can see and handle and carry home with them, and the cause is half won.
	www.wisdomquotes.com /cat_argument.html (406 words)

	Quotations and Misquotations
		A scientific argument is not like an elementary school book that says "authoritatively" that Albany is the capital of New York, nor is it a high school or college textbook that functions to summarize current theory and practice of a field.
		It is not merely the authority's opinion that should be used, but rather the authority's evidence, interpretations of evidence, and lines of reasoning that should be used.
		If an authority's opinion is credible when he agrees with you then that authority does not become any less of an authority when he disagrees with you.
	www.talkorigins.org /faqs/quotes (6441 words)

	Argument - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		argument (literature), the brief summary at the beginning of a section of a poem
		In mathematics, science (including computer science), and engineering, an argument is, generally speaking, an independent variable or input to a function.
		Argumentative, a type of evidentiary objection to a question for a witness during a trial
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Argument (409 words)

	Fallacies of Weak Induction: Appeal to Authority
		An argument from authority is an inductive argument in which an arguer cites the authority or testimony of another person in support of some conclusion.
		The appeal to authority fallacy is a variety of the argument from authority and occurs when the cited authority or witness is not qualified or there is reason to believe that the person is mistaken, biased, or lying.
		For example, a woman might be an authority in both chemistry and medicine, but this same woman, while she might be an authority in relation to any number of nonphysicians, might not be an authority in relation to her colleagues within the medical profession.
	www.lich-mc.com /vietnam/fallacies.htm (1990 words)

	Appeal to Authority
		An argument from authority is always a fallacy in this sense: No fact is ever established by any authority's say-so.
		An argument from authority can justify a belief, but it can never prove that the belief is true.
		When the authorities disagree, whether lopsidedly or evenly, it is usually reasonable to suspect that the evidence, whatever it consists of, is logically inconclusive.
	home.earthlink.net /~douglasofcalifornia/philos/auth.htm (750 words)

	SUMMA THEOLOGICA: Is sacred doctrine a matter of argument? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		Further, if it is a matter of argument, the argument is either from authority or from reason.
		Although arguments from human reason cannot avail to prove what must be received on faith, nevertheless, this doctrine argues from articles of faith to other truths.
		This doctrine is especially based upon arguments from authority, inasmuch as its principles are obtained by revelation: thus we ought to believe on the authority of those to whom the revelation has been made.
	www.newadvent.org /summa/100108.htm (767 words)

	The “Music-Authority” Issue Again : ChristianCourier.com
		The short answer to that query is this: There is no New Testament authority for the use of such, and to act in the absence of that authority is to be guilty of religious presumption, otherwise called “will-worship” (Col. 2:23).
		Authorization for a practice is not restricted to “commands.” Authority may be established in a variety of ways, e.g., by statements, certain examples, inference, principle, etc. This point is so obvious as not to require development at this time.
		There is no higher authority for the validity of scripture translation than that of the Son of God himself.
	www.christiancourier.com /articles/read/the_music_authority_issue_again (933 words)

	Fallacy: Appeal to Authority
		Since people have a tendency to believe authorities (and there are, in fact, good reasons to accept some claims made by authorities) this fallacy is a fairly common one.
		If there is evidence that a person is biased in some manner that would affect the reliability of her claims, then an Argument from Authority based on that person is likely to be fallacious.
		A common variation of the typical Appeal to Authority fallacy is an Appeal to an Unnamed Authority.
	www.nizkor.org /features/fallacies/appeal-to-authority.html (2562 words)

	Mission: Critical (Premises and Support)
		A simple argument has two premises and a conclusion; a more complex argument may contain many claims, but these can always be divided up into groups of three--two premises and a conclusion.
		The relative strength of an authority in an argument depends on how willing a person is to accept the judgment of that source, but even in the strongest of cases, use of an authority merely supports a premise, and does not make an argument by itself.
		The various sorts of support for a premise--supporting arguments, evidence, authority, and explanations and anecdotes--interact in what we might call a hierarchy of support or evidence, in which one sort is given priority over another.
	www.sjsu.edu /depts/itl/007/part1/premise.html (1650 words)

	CPB--Supporting Argument: Authors and Authority (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-03)
		The term auctor may profitably be regarded as an accolade bestowed upon a popular writer by those later scholars and writers who used extracts from his work as sententious statements or auctoritates, or employed them as literary models.
		For a writer to successfully draw upon the authority of an older writer, that older writer must already be recognized by a wider readership as an authority.
		If a text lacks authority it does not merit commonplace status; likewise, any authoritive text is already commonplace.
	www.cmu.ca /faculty/pdyck/old/cpb25.htm (148 words)

	Concurring Opinions: The President's Inherent Authority Argument
		When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate.
		When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority, or in which its distribution is uncertain.
		It was incumbent upon the court, therefore, to determine the boundaries of that constitutional authority in the case before it.
	www.concurringopinions.com /archives/2005/12/the_presidents.html (934 words)

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