Appeal to Authority
Appeal to authority, also known as an appeal to false or unqualified authority, means the use of an expert’s opinion to back up an argument. Instead of justifying one’s claim, the person cites an authority figure who is not qualified to make reliable claims about the given topic. Since most people tend to believe experts, and celebrities, they readily accept the argument. Hence, an appeal to authority often provides credibility to the argument. The argument is presented in this way.
- Mr A has claimed X to be true.
- Mr A is a well-known expert.
- Hence, X is true.
When claims of an argument are based on authority, most people fail to differentiate the knowledge from the knower, and the credibility of the knower is used to strengthen the argument’s credibility. It is widely used as a persuasion technique in advertising, politics, religion and everyday discussions. For instance, for the believers, there can be no authority bigger than God and no book more authentic than their scripture. Hence, if something is written in the Holy Books or said by God, it must be correct. Their line of argument is
- Scriptures are the words of God.
- God is omniscient and says only what is true.
- Hence, all claims made in the scripture must be true.
However, we know that many claims made in the scriptures like God sending the plague, and the Sun revolving around the earth have already been proven false. Hence, it would be incorrect to accept the conclusion of the above argument.
Why Appeal to Authority Work
It is impossible to acquire all knowledge of the world even in several lifetimes. We can’t even learn everything about a single subject like physics in a lifetime. Further, we can’t verify the authenticity of every thread of knowledge by conducting the experiments ourselves. Hence, we have to rely on the authority or experts. For instance, if you are writing a research paper, you have to either cite your own research to make a claim or refer to the research done by another expert that has been published in a research journal of high credibility. Good research journals follow the double-blind review, which means that the researcher does not know the reviewer and the reviewer has no knowledge of the researcher. Hence, a research paper is accepted only after due diligence so that only credible studies are published.
Moreover, once a study is published, it is in the public domain, and anyone can challenge the findings of the study. If the findings of the study are not replicable or different results are achieved in the subsequent experiments, the research claims are rejected. Hence, if a study is published in a credible journal, it is considered credible as there is a high probability of the claims being true. However, some of the results still fail the scrutiny of the scientists and are subsequently rejected.
The appeal to authority convinces people since the expert’s opinion provides authenticity to the claim. However, no authority can claim to have expertise in all the fields of knowledge. Even the statements of Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of all time, can be relied upon only in the domain of his expertise i.e. quantum physics, and not on other matters like religion, philosophy, literature etc. Einstein was quite ordinary in most worldly issues. He once said that the hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax, which falls under the domain of tax experts. Similarly, Scriptures can be an authentic source for rituals, and many social norms like marriage, but they can’t be relied upon in other matters like science, philosophy, history etc.
Hence, if the appeal to authority concerns the field of expertise, we may accept it as relevant; otherwise, we must reject it. In any case, if the claim of the authority defies simple observation, we must reject it. Here is one example,
A man was declared dead by the doctor, and he was taken for cremation. Fortunately, the man was alive and he came to his senses. He somehow opened the coffin and asked one of his friend who was carrying him to the cremation ground, “Where are you taking me?”
“To the cremation ground?” said his friend.
“But why?”, asked the man in the coffin.
“Because you are dead, ” replied his friend.
“But I am alive. Can’t you see yourself?”
“You just shut up. Do you think, you know more than the doctor?”
Hence, irrespective of who made the claim, if the claim is found to be factually incorrect, it must be dismissed.
We must be sceptical about the claims made by celebrities and experts who are paid to endorse a product. Moreover, the employees of organisations like governments and corporations are bound by their code of conduct which prohibits them from criticising and decisions of the organisation. Hence, their claim should also not be accepted as they are not free and fair.
