Invincible authority

Invincible authority is a fallacy that occurs when an authority's opinion on an idea is cited as if that authority's support was the only evidence necessary to uphold said idea.

Cogito ergo sum
Logic and rhetoric
Key articles
General logic
Bad logic
v - t - e

The fallacy is an appeal to authority and thus a conditional fallacy.

Form

P1: Source X supports Y.
P2: (unstated) Source X is necessarily correct.
C: Y is necessarily correct.

Examples

Problems

Such an argument is fallacious because there is no given reason why the authority's word should be accepted as final. The fallacy also faces the issue that only the authority's opinion is considered, while no opposing arguments are.

The line between invincible authority and a valid argument from authority can be difficult to draw; this does not mean no distinction exists. A sound argument based on citing authorities requires:

  1. supporting the authority of the authority (e.g., the authority is an expert in the field, has been widely published, and agrees with scientific consensus) and
  2. hedging your bets (because even the most qualified authorities make mistakes) and asserting that the authority's support merely makes an argument likely true, not necessarily true.

Ultimately, however, this fallacy underscores the weakness of citing authorities instead of arguments.

gollark: School is inefficient at imparting useful skills.
gollark: Of course.
gollark: I'm sure this sort of thing will cause no problems.
gollark: My parents seem to vaguely assume I obviously want to go to the first one.
gollark: I'm in the moderately h position of having offers for a university with a very good CS course but which is in an annoying location and which is renowned for large workload, and one with a fairly mediocre course and nice location and not large workload (plus others but they're basically dominated options).

See also

References

  1. Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies Encyclopedia of Logical Fallacies SeekFind (archived from December 2, 2018). "Those who know Jesus Christ do not need fallacies. All others do."
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