Fallacy ad verecundiam or of authority

What is the ad verecundiam or authority fallacy?

The ad verecundiam or authority fallacy is that premise that is based on the figure of an expert to argue that it is true and true. In other words, if someone with authority claims that something is true, it must be because that person says so..

The problem with this fallacy is that, like all fallacies, it uses a deceptive argument instead of evidence. Something that an expert says is not necessarily true, and to demonstrate the premise, evidence will have to be presented.

(legend: The ad verecundiam fallacy is the one that, to prove its validity, points to an expert in the field. The ancient Greeks used the expression Magister Dixit (the teacher said it) as sufficient proof of something)

For example, to say that gravity exists because Newton said it is an ad verecundiam fallacy, since the argument on which it is based is that Newton said it, not that it is an attraction that all objects with mass experience among themselves..

Notice that the fallacy is not in the postulate, but in the argument: gravity exists, but not because Newton said it. That is, the premise is correct but the reasoning is not..

Ad verecundiam means "to respect", to venerate, therefore a synonym is the saying by the Pythagoreans: magister dixit, that is, the teacher said it (and if the teacher, the expert, the one with authority says it, it must be true).

Characteristics of the ad verecundiam fallacy

The ad verecundiam fallacy has several characteristics:

No evidence

What is obvious from the first glance is that they do not do tests to show that something is true if that was said by a person of authority. Let's analyze the classic case of the ad verecundiam fallacy:

"The square root of 2 is irrational because Euclid said it was so".

This is an ad verecundiam fallacy because the proof that the square root of 2 is irrational is not that Euclid said it but because the mathematical proofs indicate that it cannot be expressed as the division of two whole numbers.

For those who use this fallacy, the proof is sufficient by alluding to the authority figure, and nothing else.

The authority figure is reason enough

The moral quality of the authority figure displaces the validity of the premise. If we assume that the "sky is blue" because Newton said it, and Newton knew what he was talking about because he was a recognized physicist who laid the foundations of physics, that will be reason enough to accept a premise as true..

In other words, the only reason the sky is blue is because Newton said so. Therein lies the fallacy, that no evidence of any kind is provided and what the authority figure has said on the subject is accepted without discussion.

Validity of the premises

As we have seen in the examples, so far the premises are true, since the fallacy lies in the argument to prove them (the magister dixit we talked about before). The fact that they are true does not mean that the argument is valid.

Logical schema

The ad verecundiam fallacies are structured with the following logical scheme:

• X is a recognized physicist.
• X says quantum physics is a hoax.
• Therefore, quantum physics is a hoax.

Here we have a case in which the premise is not true, and the reason is based on what "an expert" says. This is especially notable when the experts do not all agree on the concepts. In these cases, the one who wields the fallacy will choose the opinion that best suits him to support his own argument..

How to identify an ad verecundiam fallacy?

At first glance, when a person bases his argument on the fact that someone with authority on the subject says so, we are faced with an ad verecundiam fallacy. As we have already said, something is not true just because an expert says it, and the argument must point to the evidence to prove it..

Although in academic, scientific or technical essays expressions of the type "as so and so said, we agree with stating that ..." are used very frequently, in these cases the reasons why they agree are usually stated , and the reference to the expert is just one more endorsement.

How to identify it in advertising

Advertising has made use of several fallacies on its way to persuasion, and the ad verecundiam fallacy is one more. We can recognize it when there are recognized figures in an area supporting a product that they do not know in depth.

Some examples: a soccer player recommending an insurance agency, an actress advising on a specific type of lenses for myopia, a well-known academic recommending a car ...

Advertising uses these types of people to say that the products you want to sell are good depending on who is exhibiting them. If Messi drinks a Pepsi cola, this drink must be good, because Messi is a great footballer.

The argument is not valid in any of the cases because generally the experts are it in other fields; If the footballer were talking about sports shoes or balls or grass for the field, there would be more relationship between his area of ​​expertise and what he recommends.

How to identify it in the press

In the press something similar to advertising happens, usually in the field of politics: when prominent figures (presidents, deputies, senators, etc.) base their arguments on something that another, equal or more representative than them, said.

Or when the same journalists refer opinions of well-known figures in support or in rejection of certain positions (this is what is known as "spokesman jargon"): "For Trump it is indisputable that there is a worldwide conspiracy against him".

Examples of ad verecundiam fallacy

Below you can see several examples of cases in which the fallacy of authority or ad verecundiam occurs:

1. A newspaper or youtuber explains that extraterrestrial life exists because a scientist from Harvard University has said so.
2. Argue that traditional medicine is effective because it is supported by certain countries, politicians or doctors.
3. In the networks, for some time, a kind of fake news: that of Noam Chomsky's media manipulation techniques. This is a perfect example of the ad verecundiam fallacy, since the true author, the French Sylvain Timsit, at some point said that he had been based on the thought of the American linguist, which was enough for millions of people to transfer the authorship to the latter. It would be an ad verecundiam fallacy, since Chomsky's prestige and his repeated criticisms and analyzes of the role of the media, and his questioning of the neoliberal system are enough to make believe that what is said about mass manipulation is true , and what did he say.

3. "I saw a television program about climate change where they say it is a lie, and if it appears on TV it must be true".
4. "I am a professor of literature with a postgraduate degree in philology, don't think you know more than me".
5. "The press says so!".
6. "They sent me a WhatsApp with the news, it sure is true".
7. Arguing that a virus does not exist because it has been said by a medical graduate.
8. The countless references of Hugo Chávez to Simón Bolívar, the Liberator of Venezuela, to support his "independence" theses of "Yankee and world imperialism" would be an example of ad verecundiam fallacy in the press (the Venezuelan newspapers and media that are affected by the government are full of these fallacies, now made by Nicolás Maduro with Chávez).

References

1. López, K. (1999). Theory of argumentation. Taken from academia.edu.
2. Walton, D., Koszowy, M. (2014). Two kinds of Arguments from authority in the ad verecundiam fallacy. Taken from scholar.uwindsor.ca.
3. Jaimes, F. (2020). Pseudoscience: a manifestation of wrong thinking. Taken from extrapolitica.ssh.org.pe.
4. Argument ad verecundiam (2021). Taken from es.wikipedia.org.
5. Examples of fallacy ad verecundiam (2021). Taken from rhetoric.com.