Forms
The argument from authority (argumentum ad verecundiam) can take several forms. As a statistical syllogism, the argument has the following basic structure:
- Most of what authority A has to say on subject matter S is correct.
- A says P about subject matter S.
- Therefore, P is correct.
The strength of this authoritative argument depends upon two factors:
- The authority is a legitimate expert on the subject.
- There exists consensus among legitimate experts in the subject matter under discussion.
The two factors — legitimate expertise and expert consensus — can be incorporated to the structure of the statistical syllogism, in which case, the argument from authority can be structured thus:
- X holds that A is true.
- X is a legitimate expert on the subject matter.
- The consensus of subject-matter experts agrees with X.
- Therefore, there exists a presumption that A is true.
Read more about this topic: Argument From Authority
Famous quotes containing the word forms:
“An aristocratic culture does not advertise its emotions. In its forms of expression it is sober and reserved. Its general attitude is stoic.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)
“All forms of beauty, like all possible phenomena, contain an element of the eternal and an element of the transitory—of the absolute and of the particular. Absolute and eternal beauty does not exist, or rather it is only an abstraction creamed from the general surface of different beauties. The particular element in each manifestation comes from the emotions: and just as we have our own particular emotions, so we have our own beauty.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
“We find the most terrible form of atheism, not in the militant and passionate struggle against the idea of God himself, but in the practical atheism of everyday living, in indifference and torpor. We often encounter these forms of atheism among those who are formally Christians.”
—Nicolai A. Berdyaev (1874–1948)