RE: Appeal to authority
February 14, 2019 at 11:59 pm
(This post was last modified: February 15, 2019 at 12:07 am by bennyboy.)
It's one thing to depend on experts for ideas. The fallacy is in claiming something is true because an expert said it.
With all due respect, the appeal to authority has nothing to do with the verifiability or correctness of an assertion. It doesn't matter if Einstein was right or wrong. What matters is that you can't say, "Einstein said X, and he was the best scientist, so it's probably true."
(February 13, 2019 at 6:32 pm)Abaddon_ire Wrote:(February 13, 2019 at 12:32 pm)LastPoet Wrote: "According to einstein the closer to the speed of light an object is the slower time will pass for it, to an outside observer" -> not a fallacy.
"Eistein believed in god, therefore god exists" -> appeal to authority.
Correct.
We can verify the first claim and have. Not a fallacy.
We can't on the second, therefore a fallacy.
With all due respect, the appeal to authority has nothing to do with the verifiability or correctness of an assertion. It doesn't matter if Einstein was right or wrong. What matters is that you can't say, "Einstein said X, and he was the best scientist, so it's probably true."
