Appeals to Authority
Appeals to authority
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read the assigned chapters in your textbook, complete the interactive module PHI103 Inductive and Deductive Arguments (Links to an external site.), and watch the videos What Is an Inductive Argument? (Links to an external site.), What Is a “STRONG” Argument? (Links to an external site.), and What Is a Deductive Argument? (Links to an external site.) In addition, watch the video Inductive Reasoning (Links to an external site.) (displayed below).
In your initial post:
- Give three examples of appeals to authority (they can be from real source or experiences, or you can make them up) IN STANDARD FORM. One should be very strong, one very weak, and one in the middle. Evaluate the quality of each
- Provide an example of a time in which you or someone you know was fooled by trusting a source that turned out to be unreliable
- Provide another paragraph or two in which you discuss appeals to authority in general, by addressing some of these types of questions: How do we know which sources are reliable and trustworthy? Do you find that there are some types of sources of which people are too trusting? How might we learn to display the proper amount of skepticism and trust in relation to sources? Are people too trusting of media sources, and is there a way to overcome these tendencies? How can we make sure those are the best sources and not be deceived by deceptive ones?