A level revision

Irrelevant appeals

An argument is flawed if they use an irrelevant appeal to support their conclusion. There are multiple appeals which you need to know about, these appeals to not provide strong support for a conclusion.

Appeal to popularity

An appeal to popularity uses the popularity of a conclusion to justify it. For example:

Most people believe the earth is flat, therefore the earth is not round

As can be seen from this example the fact that something is popular does not make it right.

Appeal to history

An appeal to history uses past examples and cases to predict the future, i.e. because some has always happened it will continue to happen. For example:

Chelsea FC have always finished in the top half of the league table of 20 teams, therefore this season they will finish at least in the top 10.

It doesn't require much explanation as to why this is wrong, simply put the past is not a reliable guide to the future.

Appeal to tradition

An appeal to tradition is similar to an appeal to history. An appeal to tradition justifies a conclusion because it's traditional, i.e. because it has been done in a certain way in the past it should continue to be done that way. For example:

All the men in my family have become plumbers, therefore becoming a plumber is the best job for me.

The problem with this appeal to can take one of two forms, either the original tradition may be wrong, so in this example becoming a plumber may have never been the best job for the men in the family, or circumstances have changed and the justification of the tradition no longer apply, so in this example pay for plumbers may have decreased so it's no longer the best job for the men in the family.

Appeal to authority

An appeal to authority uses an authority figure's view to justify a conclusion. For example:

Isaac Newton was a genius, he believed in God, therefore God exists

There are many problems with this type of appeal. Firstly just because someone may be an authority does not mean their viewpoint overrides all others - there are many other famous scientists who didn't believe in god. Another problem can be the relevance and expertise of the authority being appealed to to justify the conclusion, for example:

My doctor is a professional and says Scrubs is the best TV show, therefore Scrubs is the best show on TV.

Here the authority, the doctor, has no relevance or expertise when in comes television and media.