Comment by ajkjk
1 year ago
yes they do. for one thing you do not make the rules around here; no one cares what you think counts as suitable grounds for arguing. For another, yes, authority has some merit. Doesn't make it fact, but certainly the prior we ought to assign for "medical authorities are correct" is quite high. Not certainty, but pretty confident, all else being equal.
edit: I see you added "I realize that we all go through life taking most things on faith, but that also means that you should not cling to the opinions of others as a substitute for thought."
Don't worry, nobody's doing that here. It's a question of weighting, not clinging. Maybe you mistook "this is not mainstream" to mean "this is definitely false because it's not mainstream"? It does not mean that. It is just helpful context for evaluating credibility.
> for one thing you do not make the rules around here; no one cares what you think counts as suitable grounds for arguing.
You're asserting that a extremely well-known logical fallacy is not a fallacy. It's not an HN rule, it's argumentation 101.
> You're asserting that a extremely well-known logical fallacy is not a fallacy.
There are two distinctly different fallacies of appeal to authority (which overlap, since all of the second are also the first), this form is the form which is a deductive fallacy (appeal to status), but not the form that is a fallacy in inductive argument (which is appeal to false authority). It is important to distinguish them because while deductive fallacies are much more clear cut, they are also far less relevant to most real world debate, which rarely is about proving something is true by logical necessity assuming some set of axioms, but that is the only place that deductive fallacies are inappropriate, since all a deductive fallacy is is a form of argument in which the conclusion does not follow from the premise by logical necessity.
There is no logical fallacy in play here. Nobody is saying “the argument is wrong because of who said it”. When assessing the probable significance of an agglomeration of empirical data, it’s valuable to know what experts in the field think about the data and their consensus about the inferences we can draw from it—even if the consensus might be mistaken: because the consensus is usually right.
> There is no logical fallacy in play here. Nobody is saying “the argument is wrong because of who said it”.
The OP literally dismissed the parent based on nothing more than the opinions of others.
> When assessing the probable significance of an agglomeration of empirical data, it’s valuable to know what experts in the field think about the data and their consensus about the inferences we can draw from it—even if the consensus might be mistaken
I already conceded that, if you have no ability or capacity to think or investigate the issue yourself, it's perfectly fine to defer to the opinions of others. But in doing so, you remain ignorant on the matter.
> because the consensus is usually right.
No. I understand that's a comforting belief -- and even politically charged, today -- but it's just an assertion.
3 replies →
Experts can be wrong, even in mass consensus.
But you have to separate the fallacy from it being supportive evidence of other data.
There is a difference from saying X must be true because Y person said it and they're an expert on Z. But when there is consensus between appropriate experts - such as researchers that specialize in this field - and it is in support of other specific evidence it is supporting evidence that the other specific evidence is compelling.
If I have 10 CPAs explaining a specific bit of the tax code to me and they are pointing out the specifics of the tax code, it is not fallacious to note that these people are experts and are pointing to specific evidence that supports their point.
as others have noted, you seem to be unaware of what exactly the fallacy refers to. You might want to look it up. It is not "citing an authority at all" but rather "citing an authority's opinion as though it were logical fact". Which nobody is doing here.
You started this subthread by saying:
> I for one appreciated the clarification that it was not mainstream, since sneaking a random controversial take into a comment thread as if it was fact without noting that it's contentious is disingenuous.
(emphasis mine)
In other words, you didn't just passively ignore the parent (which would be fine), you posted about it, and not only that, you called it a lie. [1].
When you call something a lie like that, you're making an argument, so you'd better be prepared to bring the evidence.
[1] I realize that you're actually saying that it's "disingenous" that they posted this without some kind of disclaimer that it's a "controversial argument", but to the core of the issue: if you need that disclaimer, you aren't qualified to judge the content. For all you know, it isn't controversial at all.
3 replies →
You are confusing what "Appeal to Authority" fallacy is. Namely you are ignoring the fallaciousness of it.
The fallacy is where you use an authority in place of evidence. It is not fallacious to refer to consensus or experts.
Else, you end up basically in the "Do your own research"/vaccine denier/climate deniers/flat earth territory. Appeals to experts is not a logical fallacy. It's actually smart, because you get to leverage agreed facts (the earth is round) even though you've never actually been to space to see it for yourself.