A concept in Chapter 5 caught my eyes called, bad appeals to authority. An appeal to authority is when someone accepts a claim just because a person they believe to have an authority to do so have stated the claim. We consider an appeal to authority as a fallacy when:
1. Person A is (claimed to be) an authority on subject S.
2. Person A makes claim C about subject S.
3. Therefore, C is true.
This concept is interesting because many people tend to believe in something easily, which would also cause many others to follow in their footsteps and believe as well. When people accept claims from people who are not authorities on a subject, then they are mislead and it is considered a bad appeal to authority. There is no justification in a claim if a person is unqualified to do so and or not an expert. Many people considers other people's claim to be true just because they believe that the person stating the claim has the authority in doing so. They are accepting a claim to be true without adequate evidence. There is also a bad appeal to common belief which usually means, that a person mistakenly accepts a claim to be true just because a lot of other people have done so. Just because someone say something is true, it does not mean they are or have the authority to say it is true.
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