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Appeal to authority?I'm thinking this is a version of appeal to authority but I'm wondering if there is a more specific logical fallacy. "Here is a link to a relatively short essay by X a published and respected climate scientist". The scientist is in fact neither of the things claimed but it is more the "respected" label I am questioning. My contention is that the use of the word "respected" implies a faith in the source because he is a "nice guy" and therefore, any attempt to question the information presented is pre-tainted because contradiction of the "respected" source implies the contradictor is lacking respect. The science should stand on its own merit and not whether the scientist is respected or not.
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| asked on Sunday, Nov 24, 2019 12:44:52 AM by Paul Mackey | |
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X a published and respected climate scientist.....respected used here isn't "nice guy". It's being used to say he knows his field of study and has proven so.
Therefore this statement by you...."My contention is that the use of the word "respected" implies a faith in the source because he is a "nice guy" and therefore, any attempt to question the information presented is pre-tainted...." Seems to be a straw man imo. You might get another differing point of view. |
| answered on Sunday, Nov 24, 2019 07:41:21 PM by skips777 |
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First of all you're equating the term "respected" with "being a nice guy" - so that's a kind of straw man argument. Presumably one could be respected and not terribly nice. (It's actually common). You also assert that the climate scientist is neither a climate scientist nor is s/he respected, but you offer no evidence or support for your claim, so that's just your opinion, or worse, an ad hominem insult.
As far as describing the climate scientist as respected, it is possible that they could be a journalist or a climate activist with respected views on climatology without necessarily being a "scientist". Just calling them respected or a nice is not an appeal to authority in itself. unless they're claiming so and so wrote a paper on climatology therefore climate change must be true or false, then, yes, that would be an appeal to authority without citing or negating the evidence at hand. But just by describing them as respected or nice is simply an Appeal to Flattery. |
| answered on Sunday, Nov 24, 2019 10:17:02 AM by mchasewalker |
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I would actually say more of an Appeal to Trust, because the word "respected" implies that you can believe and trust him, like you said. The pre-tainted part you mentioned would be Poisoning the Well, because he is priming the audience to not believe the contradictor. That's what I got. |
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| answered on Monday, Mar 09, 2020 03:08:54 PM by Aryan | |||||||||||
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