If you want to believe that the argument, “Well my dad said it was!” is still a good one… I would suggest reading no further.
The Argument From Authority: or “Jenny McCarthy said so… it MUST be true!”
This logical fallacy occurs when someone tries to claim that a fact or argument is correct because it was said by a person who is typically regarded as an authority figure of some sort. Formally the fallacy can be shown this way:
- Person A makes claim C.
- There is something positive about A that causes them to be regarded as an authority figure in some way.
- Therefore claim C is true.
Anyone who has ever been a student of formal logic will see the problem right away. The reason that this is a fallacious argument is because the personal qualities of Person A have abso-stinkin-lutely nothing to do with the truth or…
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