Markup View

Author: surgoshan

Aug 8th 2012 at 8:01:15 AM

In debate circles, this is known as the ArgumentFromAuthority. It is, half the time, a logical fallacy, the other half of the time it's just an unconvincing argument.

The argument is effective because of the simian (and other animals) drive to respect authority. Humans and others possess, to varying degrees, an innate desire to bow to authority, whether derived from age[[hottip:*:Respect your elders.]], physical strength[[hotip:*:MightMakesRight]], or simple experience [[hottip:*:It is ''ridiculously'' easy to boss around the new guy at work.]]

* It's a logical fallacy when it's used, with or without actual experience to shut up your interlocutor. 
-> '''Either the user isn't actually an expert:'''
--> "My degrees in chemistry tell me there's no global warming."
--> "You dropped out of community college and got a job with Fox News."
-> '''or there isn't consensus among experts.'''
--> "Dentists all agree that you should use our toothpaste."
--> "Actually, 20% disagree, bitch."

* It's unconvincing even when the user is correct because actual logic and evidence is always more effective than "Because I say so." It's more effective still than "Because some other guy says so.