Appeal to Authority

Appeal to Authority is using the opinion or position of an authority figure, or institution of authority, in place of an actual argument.

An example of the fallacy is:

Person A is (claimed to be) an authority on subject S.

Person A makes claim C about subject S.

Therefore, C is true.

Appeal to Authority is used when information is backed up by having an authority figure support it, even though the authority figure is not an expert on the information that is being given. For example, a person says that they should stop eating after 6 PM because Oprah said it is unhealthy. This is a fallacy because Oprah is not an expert in health and diet. However, the person is using Oprah as support for their claim because Oprah is seen as an authority figure since she has wealth and fame. Another example is seen in the movie Matilda. Matilda realizes that her father’s business has to do with selling vehicles in an illegal way. Matilda points this out to her father but her opinion is shut down because her father is an authority figure and uses that to prove her wrong.

Matilda video example

In this case, Person A is the father, Subject S is Matilda and claim C is what the father says.

The Dad is an authority figure on Matilda

The dad says that Matilda is little, wrong and dumb because he is the father.

Therefore, this must be true.

The Appeal to authority fallacy can clearly be seen because the audience knows that Matilda is not wrong, but the father uses his own authority figure to say that she is.