The appeal to novelty (also called argumentum ad novitatem) is a logical fallacy in which someone claims that his or her idea or proposal is correct or superior because it is new and modern. Some examples are: In philosophy, the term logical fallacy properly refers to a formal fallacy: a flaw in the structure of a deductive argument which renders the argument invalid. ...

• "If you want to lose weight, your best bet is to follow the latest diet."
• "The department will become more profitable because it has been reorganised."
• "Our progressive policies will replace the government's outdated medieval dogma."
• "Upgrading all your software to the most recent versions will make your system more reliable."

Appeals to novelty are often successful in a modern world where everyone is eager to be on the "cutting edge" of technology. The so-called "Dot-com bust" of the early 2000s could easily be interpreted as a sign of the dangers of naïvely embracing new ideas without first viewing them with a critical eye. Also, advertisers frequently extoll the newness of their products as a reason to buy. Dot-com (also dotcom or redundantly dot. ... Generally speaking, advertising is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually by an identified sponsor. ...

The opposite of an appeal to novelty is an appeal to tradition, in which one argues that the "old ways" are always superior to new ideas. Appeal to tradition, also known as appeal to common practice or argumentum ad antiquitatem is a common logical fallacy in which someone proclaims his or her accuracy by noting that this is how its always been done. ...

The appeal to novelty is based on the reasoning that in general people will tend to try to improve the outputs resulting from their efforts. Thus, for example, a company producing a product might be assumed to know about existing flaws and to be seeking to correct them in a future revision. This line of reasoning is obviously flawed for many reasons, most notably that: it ignores motive (a new product may be released that is functionally identical to previous products but with new packaging); it ignores cyclicality (the fashion industry continually rediscovers old styles and markets them as the next new thing); and it ignores population dynamics (the previous product may have been created by an expert who has since been replaced by a neophyte). In Warhammer 40,000 a Neophyte is a Space Marine in training. ...

See also: radicalism The term Radical (latin radix meaning root) has been used since the late 18th century as a label in political science for those favoring or trying to produce thoroughgoing or extreme political reforms which can include changes to the social order to a greater or lesser extent. ...