EXAMPLE: Bad appeal to authority. (Almost) anything that ________ says about _____ is (probably) true.
EXPLANATION: What this fallacy is really saying is how people tend to believe in just about anything a higher figure of authority is saying to them; some more than others. People have a common habit of relying on the source and intaking information that may not always be true, just because it is coming from perhaps an elderly in the family or society's authorative figures (cops, presidents). Although most information given by an officer or a president of the country may be true, it is not guaranteed that it is all 100% factual. A common example of this fallacy would be children; they tend to idolize a certain adult, and believe everything that person is saying or doing is correct. Even if they don't idolize a person specifically, they still go along with whatever they hear/see. For an example: My job is to tutor little kids. If I were to tell a child something is correct, I can guarantee that 99% of them will believe me. There is a slight chance of a few of them questioning me or asking why that specific thing I said is true (even though it isn't), if I just make things up and make the explanation seem valid, they would just void their suspicions and questions and agree to what I'm saying. Most children, however, just go along with it the first time around. If I was explaining something wrong, they would most likely say "oh," without further questions. It seems to me that because I'm their tutor and I'm older than they are, everything I'm saying is correct. And even if they had underlying questions as to why something is wrong/right, and how it doesn't match their instincts, they'd agree with it just because of my position as their tutor.
I really liked your explanation of this fallacy. The way you broke down the idea made it much easier to understand. Also, your example of your tutoring experience was perfect for this fallacy. This is very true that people are perhaps taught to respect their elders or superiors and believe almost everything they say (usually without furthering questioning). I, too, used this example for this fallacy question. I thought it was a topic that was easy to understand and could be easily related to everyday life without being too complex. Good job explaining this, QUANG7, it made it much easier to understand!
ReplyDeleteGood job tying this fallacy into a source such as police officers or government figures because they are a great example of authoritative figures that most people look up to. And it is true that lots of people fall into this type of fallacy when being a bit naive and believing things that a certain superior figure might state. The "almost" and "probably" true part of the bad appeal to authority are an easy way to see that the person is doing enough critical thinking. I enjoyed this post as well because I didn’t feel like a I had a full grasp on these fallacies but you did a good job explaining it. Good post!
ReplyDeleteHey I really liked your example! It really helped me out when I did my blog post, as your post made me understand this fallacy a lot better. I never really thought about how easy it is for us to believe something anyone says just because of how we see them, whether or not they are in a position of authority or not. I branched my example off from yours and talked about mechanics. If you're not mechanically inclined, who's to say that what they tell you is broken is broken? They could be adding on extra, uneeded work in order to make a quick buck!
ReplyDeleteI like your example because it's something that I can imagine happening. Like not everyone is perfect no matter how much "authority" you have. Everyone makes mistakes and that's similar to your example. Like you said, some tutors can just make up stuff and teach it to children and the children may take your word for it and not correct you. Some tutors even make mistakes but in most cases, the child wont even catch their tutor making a mistake all because you're older. Anyways, this is a good life example. Tutors are also like teachers which I've seen make mistakes sometimes too. I've seen a teacher do an obvious mistake but I was surprised no one in the class said a thing. I turned out no one said a thing because no one knew if it was wrong, so they assumed it was right.
ReplyDelete- Pink Bean
You and I both chose the same fallacy to talk about. The bad appeal to authority seemed to be a very easy fallacy to understand because it seems to common in our society. You and I both stated similar arguments related to police officers being an example of higher authority figures. I find this interesting because it shows that our example we gave was very common and well know. You presented a very well put argument and explanation of this fallacy. I liked the examples you gave and the actual life evidence you supported behind it.
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