(May 23, 2013 at 2:26 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: More correctly, depending on the reasoning of said authority. Authorities with quality credentials can still have lousy reasoning.
That’s not always the case, for example if the argument is concerning the verdict in a trial and someone makes an appeal to the jury's ruling, that’s not a fallacious appeal to authority because the jury has the proper authority or credentials to be the one determining the verdict of the trial. Another example is if the argument is concerning something like Newtonian motion and someone makes an appeal to the authority of Newton, that’s not a fallacious appeal to authority because Newton has the proper credentials (the developer of the theory) to be an appropriate authority on his own theory. The validity of an appeal to authority can get mirky rather quickly.