Appeal to authority...but to what extent?

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth – Albert Einstein

Looking again at logical fallacies, we watched a short clip in class of a man, whom I assumed to be a scientist giving a presentation on some new, highly developed scientific invention.

All throughout the presentation he spoke using extremely long, scientific terms trying to convince us of the invention’s worth. At first, it was quite convincing. As I watched the video for the second time and listened closely however I realized that most of the terms he used were probably not even actual words. The presentation seemed to be a classic case of ad verecundiam or in other words, appeal to authority. He was very convincing as he played the part well. He was a matured man wearing a white long jacket showing extremely complicated graphics and using equally complex language.

The clip led me to thinking about appeal to authority and about how often we are misled by this fallacy. We are constantly bombarded with marketing of things we know nothing about and yet we assume that what is said is the truth and we end up believing in their credibility because of the way they are presented and because of the people who present them. The clip led me to come up with the following question:

‘How far should we believe in authority as evidence for truth?’

Finding an answer to this question is far more complex that posing the question itself. Ever since we are little, we have been taught to appeal to authority. ‘Listen to your elders’ is an expression we are all used to. Taking into account the fallacy of ad verecundiam, I have begun to question authority more than I used to. Just because someone looks like a scientist and talks like a scientist, doesn’t necessarily mean that he is one after all. Another form of appeal to authority is using quotes from people with authority in speeches and essays as evidence to support an argument. My reason tells me to think about what is being said and to try to make sense out of it based on history and the evidence supporting it. At some point in the past, people used to think that the earth is flat. Why? Because they believed that the person making the claim was telling the truth based on his authority. Authority strongly influences our thinking but we need to determine to what extent we should allow it to affect our opinions and thinking.