FACTOID # 49: Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

SEARCH ALL

FACTS & STATISTICS    Advanced view

Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 

 

(* = Graphable)

 

 


Encyclopedia > Argumentum ad populum

An argumentum ad populum (Latin: "appeal to the people"), in logic, is a fallacious argument that concludes a proposition to be true because many or all people believe it; it alleges that "If many believe so, it is so." In ethics this argument is stated, "If many find it acceptable, it is acceptable." Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Fallacy. ... This article is about the word proposition as it is used in logic, philosophy, and linguistics. ... Ethics (via Latin from the Ancient Greek moral philosophy, from the adjective of ēthos custom, habit), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of values and customs of a person or group. ...


This type of argument is known by several names[1], including appeal to the masses, appeal to belief, appeal to the majority, appeal to the people, argument by consensus, authority of the many, bandwagon fallacy, and tyranny of the majority, and in Latin by the names argumentum ad populum ("appeal to the people"), argumentum ad numerum ("appeal to the number"), and consensus gentium ("agreement of the clans"). It is also the basis of a number of social phenomena, including communal reinforcement and the bandwagon effect, and of the Chinese proverb "three men make a tiger". Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Communal reinforcement is a social phenomenon in which a concept or idea is repeatedly asserted in a community, regardless of whether sufficient empirical evidence has been presented to support it. ... The bandwagon effect is the observation that people often do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. ... Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-12-15, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ...

Contents

Examples

This fallacy is sometimes committed while trying to convince a person that a widely popular theory is true.

  • Since 88% of the people polled believed in UFOs, they must exist.
  • Since citizens have to pay taxes and are ruled by governments, the state must be a judicial reasoned and rightful institution.
  • Since most of the world believes in God, it must exist.

It is sometimes committed when trying to convince a person that widely unpopular theories are false.

  • It's silly for you to claim that Hitler would not have attacked the United States if they hadn't entered World War II. Everyone knows that he planned to conquer the world.

The fallacy is commonly found in arguments over ethics: Hitler redirects here. ... Ethics (via Latin from the Ancient Greek moral philosophy, from the adjective of ēthos custom, habit), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of values and customs of a person or group. ...

  • Most Americans hold that the Vietnam War was morally wrong. Therefore, the Vietnam War was morally wrong.

The fallacy is also commonly found in marketing: Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up marketing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

  • Brand X vacuum cleaners are the leading brand in America. You should buy Brand X vacuum cleaners.

Other examples:

  • Fifty million Elvis fans can't be wrong.
  • Christianity is believed in by the greatest amount of people in the world, so it must be true.
  • "Every society but ours believed in magic; why should we think otherwise?" "Every society but ours thought the sun revolved about the Earth, rather than the other way round. Would you decide the matter by majority vote?" - Isaac Asimov.
  • In a court of law, the jury vote by majority, therefore they will always make the correct decision.

50,000,000 Elvis Fans Cant Be Wrong (sometimes listed as 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Cant Be Wrong: Elvis Golden Records, Vol. ... Isaac Asimov (January 2?, 1920?[1] – April 6, 1992), IPA: , originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as Айзек Азимов) was a Russian-born American Jewish author and professor of biochemistry, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. ...

Explanation

The argumentum ad populum is a red herring and genetic fallacy. It is logically fallacious because the mere fact that a belief is widely held is not necessarily a guarantee that the belief is correct; if the belief of any individual can be wrong, then the belief held by multiple persons can also be wrong. Ignoratio elenchi (also known as irrelevant conclusion) is the logical fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but which proves or supports a different proposition than the one it is purporting to prove or support. ... It also fails to assess ideas on their merits. ...


This fallacy is similar in structure to certain other fallacies that involve a confusion between the justification of a belief and its widespread acceptance by a given group of people. When an argument uses the appeal to the beliefs of a group of supposed experts, it takes on the form of an appeal to authority; if the appeal is to the beliefs of a group of respected elders or the members of one's community over a long period of time, then it takes on the form of an appeal to tradition. An appeal to authority or argument by authority is a type of argument in logic, consisting on basing the truth value of an otherwise unsupported assertion on the authority, knowledge or position of the person asserting it. ... Appeal to tradition, also known as appeal to common practice or argumentum ad antiquitatem or false induction is a common logical fallacy in which a thesis is deemed correct on the basis that it has a long standing tradition behind. ...


One who commits this fallacy may assume that individuals commonly analyze and edit their beliefs and behaviors. This is often not the case (see conformity). This article is about the psychological concept of conformity. ...


Evidence

  • One could claim that smoking is a healthy pastime, since millions of people do it. However, knowing the dangers of smoking, we instead say that smoking is not a healthy pastime despite the fact that millions do it.
  • One could claim Brad Pitt is the best-looking man in the world, because he is regularly voted such, although the sample he is part of (celebrities) is insufficient.

William Bradley Brad Pitt(born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. ...

Exceptions

Appeal to belief is only valid when the question is whether the belief exists. Appeal to popularity is therefore only valid when the questions are whether the belief is widespread and to what degree. Ie. ad populum only proves that a belief is popular, not that it is true.


Democracy

The "correctness" of electoral processes lies in the prior acceptance by the electorate that the outcome of an election shall be enacted no matter what it is.

  • "Most of the voting members at the last Rotary Club meeting thought that the Club should hold a fund-raiser in October. Therefore, the Club should hold a fund-raiser in October."

Democracy by plural voting is based on appeal to popularity. As a means of determining the truth of beliefs, it is fallacious. Democracy does not obviate this; it merely makes the fallacy irrelevant by defining law as subjective rather than objective*. Nonetheless, acceptance of policies and candidates have been shown to be well-correlated with their effectiveness (cf. Approval voting). As a system of political decisionmaking, electoral systems compare favorably against fiat systems such as feudalism and pseudo-democracies such as one-party rule. (Though the astute will note that this is a circular argument: Democracy is good because people living in a democracy say so.) Logo of Rotary International Rotary International is an organisation whose members comprise Rotary Clubs (service clubs) located all over the world. ... The plurality electoral system (or first past the post electoral system), is a voting system for single-member districts. ... On an approval ballot, the voter can vote for any number of candidates. ... Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne; from a manuscript of a chanson de geste. ... A single-party state or one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system and form of government where only a single political party dominates the government and no opposition parties are allowed. ...


Argumentum ad populum explains how some democracies have fallen victim to this principle. (See Propaganda and Nazi Germany.) Soviet Propaganda Poster during the World War II. The text reads Red Army Fighter, SAVE US! Chinese propaganda poster from during the Cultural Revolution. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...


Social convention

Matters of social convention, such as etiquette or polite manners, depend upon the wide acceptance of the convention. As such, argumentum ad populum is not fallacious when referring to the popular belief about what is polite or proper: It has been suggested that Office etiquette be merged into this article or section. ...

  • "Most people in Russia think that it is polite for men to kiss each other in greeting. Therefore, it is polite for men to kiss each other in greeting in Russia."

Social conventions can change, however, sometimes very quickly. Thus, the fact that everyone in Russia this year thinks that it is polite to kiss can't be used as evidence that everyone always believed that, or that they should always believe it.


The philosophical question of moral relativism asks whether such arguments apply to statements of morals. In philosophy, moral relativism is the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect objective and/or universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances. ...


Safety

Whether to follow a tenet decided by popularity rather than logical design may be a matter of safety or convenience:

  • "Nearly all Americans think that you should drive on the right side of the road. Therefore, you should drive on the right side of the road in the United States."

In this case, the choice of which side to drive on is basically arbitrary. However, to avoid head-on collisions, everyone on the road must agree on it. In many cases, what is safe to do depends on what others expect one will do, and thus on the "popularity" of that choice.


References

  1. ^ Austin Cline. Argumentum ad Populum

See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
Logical Fallacies and the Art of Debate (5262 words)
Argumentum ad misericordiam (argument or appeal to pity).
Argumentum ad populum (argument or appeal to the public).
Argumentum ad verecundiam (argument or appeal to authority).
  More results at FactBites »


 
 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms, 1022, m