Argument from authority (argumentum ad verecundiam), also authoritative argument and appeal to authority, is an inductive-reasoning argument that often takes the form of a statistical syllogism. Although certain classes of argument from authority can constitute strong inductive arguments, the appeal to authority is often applied fallaciously: either the authority is not a subject-matter expert, or there is no consensus among experts in the subject matter, or both.
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Famous quotes containing the words argument and/or authority:
“Mistakes are made on two counts: an argument is either based on error or incorrectly developed.”
—Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274)
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—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)