Appeal to Authority
In a nutshell, this logical fallacy’s manifestation in the Christian blogosphere boils down to:
I’m in a position of authority ordained by God and you’re not - therefore you are wrong.
In a broader sense, I would first reference the wikipedia article on this subject:
An appeal to authority or argument by authority is a type of argument in logic, consisting on basing the truth value of an assertion on the authority, knowledge or position of the person asserting it. […]
It is one method of obtaining propositional knowledge, but a fallacy in regard to logic, because the validity of a claim does not follow from the credibility of the source. The corresponding reverse case would be an ad hominem attack: to imply that the claim is false because the asserter lacks authority or is otherwise objectionable. […]
If a criticism appears that contradicts the authority’s statement, then merely the fact that the statement originated from the authority is not an argument for ignoring the criticism.
Recognizing This Fallacy
In the Christian blogosphere, this fallacy can be quickly recognized when a writer emphasized the nature of his/her positional authority within the church as a basis of truth. Religious truth comes from the Word of God, not positional power within a church structure.
Another manifestation occurs where:
1. Person A makes claim B;
2. there is something positive about A,
3. therefore claim B is true.
In this case, the writer is trying to make the basis of truth for their position upon the authority of Person A (or something else positive about them). The exception to this rule, within the Christian blogosphere, would be when quoting Jesus, the prophets, the apostles or other figures quoted within scripture.
Examples of This Fallacy in Action:
“Do you not know that I am a pastor/teacher? If you did, then…”
“Today, the Pope issued a catechism on…”
“Spurgeon/Wesley wrote X, and therefore it is true”
Exceptions to the Rule
A valid exeption to this occurs when someone in a position of authority speaks from observed experience in recognizing a trend. Here, evidence is being presented, not on the basis of authority, but on the basis of experience - which, by its nature, may be incomlete and/or inaccurate in representing the whole. In this case, truth is not being determined on the basis of authority, but observations (which may or may not contain truth) are made on the basis of access via authority.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:49 am
July, there’s all you need to draw Authority Fetishist.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:55 am
You are a woman and I am an ordained minister. DON’T YOU DARE TALK TO ME THAT WAY.
Bring your husband to talk to me PRIVATELY, but I will call you out in public with vengeance.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
David C,
Should your comment read, “Julie” or “July?”
September 26th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
(It should be “Julie”)
Now I just need to draw it…
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:50 am
Holy cow, man! Nothing like proving your opponent right with the first words out of your mouth!
Wow!
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:58 am
True, Kirby. Authority never automatically implies truth, unless it comes from the ultimate authority, Himself…
(Your comment was rescued from the spam filter, FYI - my apologies for the delay)
February 24th, 2008 at 3:06 am
You have a SPAM filter for your comments section? How cool is that? How does it work?
I’ve resorted to one of those “word verification” schemes on my site. Works like a charm, though.
February 24th, 2008 at 3:08 am
One other thing.
The life of the Christian is one long, never-ending appeal to authority. I have nothing to offer of myself. I have no wisdom, no worthy arguments, no compelling reason to believe anything at all without my appeal to authority. *I* have nothing to offer out of my *own* reasoning.
Well, except maybe THAT one…
February 24th, 2008 at 8:25 am
We use Akismet, which looks both at content (including words and phrases), but also at IP addresses, emails, etc. It pulls out probably 100-200 bogus comments each day (primarily hawking enhancement products or pornography or get-rich-quick schemes)
Your comments keep going to the spam filter because you are using a bogus email address. Even if you put in your correct address, only the administrators of the blog can see it, so I would suggest that you might do that.
Also, we have a separate ‘moderation’ filter which holds all first-time commenters (Name+email+website) in a queue until we approve them (which catches small-time spammers, and allows us to check on false identities - someone commenting under someone else’s name, etc.)
I agree, and that authority comes from scripture, not from a title held by a person (which is what this particular fallacy is referring to).