# 27. Rhetorical manipulation ## 27.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 27.5.1. Cognitive Appeal #### 27.5.1.8. Appeal to Authority A favourite of elitists is an appeal to authority making a claim based on the reputation of a person, group, or other source. It is often used to diminish an argument made by an intellectual opponent by referring to the supposed prestige of one's own source. The irrelevant appeal to authority is a type of genetic fallacy, i.e. attempting to judge a belief by its origin rather than by the arguments for and against the belief. If the belief originated with an authoritative person, then the belief is held to be true. However, even authoritative persons can hold false beliefs. Appeals to authority do not become more relevant when, instead of a single source one cites several experts who believe something is true. If the authorities are speaking outside of their range of expertise or the subject is controversial, piling up long lists of supporters does not make the appeal any more relevant. On any given controversial matter there are likely to be equally competent experts on different sides of the issue. The truth or falsity, reasonableness or unreasonableness of a belief must stand independently of those who accept or reject the belief. Finally, it should be noted that it is not irrelevant to cite an authority to support a claim that one is not competent to judge. However, in such cases the authority must be speaking in their own field of expertise and the claim should be one that other experts in the field do not generally consider to be controversial. In a subject, such as physics, it is reasonable to believe a claim made by a physicist that most other physicists also consider to be true. Presumably, they believe it because there is strong evidence to support it. Such beliefs could turn out to be false, of course, but it is obvious that no belief becomes true simply on the basis of who believes it and how much authority they wield. ***Parent:** [[Cognitive Appeal]]*