People need to be aware of the logical fallacy of appealing to authority
(I'm not a flat earther btw, just explaining how logic should be used in this context)
Just because someone is officially qualified in a given area does not automatically mean that everything they say about given area is correct
Every assertion made should be judged on its own merits, not by the person that said it
To give an example, the scientific consensus used to be that certain objects were flammable because they contained a substance called phlogiston. Some items contained more of this substance than others, hence they burned for longer. We now know that is not true, but for several years it was considered to be true. This assertion did not come from some uninformed troglodyte, it came from the "experts"; the scientific community
In this case, the earth is either round or flat regardless of the opinion of the majority of scientists
Science is to critically evaluate and question all information without preconceived answers in mind. Be sure to investigate both sides, look at possible external influencing factors that may cause it to look like a false correlation, and if possible, try to understand the larger application, for sometimes a concept may only be right in certain contexts.
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· 5 years ago
So, who found out the phlogiston theory was bs? Was it
(a) fellow scientists by using the scientific method, incl. peer review, or
(b) some semieducated laymen who was always skeptic about what these snooty scientists thought they knew?
Trusting scientific authorities is not a logical fallacy.
Why am I downvoted? I wasn't saying anything about any scientific authority. I refer to anyone - as a science student we learnt it is our civil duty as normal human beings from all walks of life to question and investigate. To critically evaluate. To not just consume information fed to us by authorities and accept it is right. It can start with Googling that silly internet fact you saw. It can start with questioning something someone says. It can start with reading an article as a student and thinking: "Hey, these guys are talking bullshit. They made a huge mcfricken mistake in a formula." It doesn't matter where you start, as long as you think about and evaluate the information throughly. If anything, I advocate questioning the authorities.
(I'm not a flat earther btw, just explaining how logic should be used in this context)
Just because someone is officially qualified in a given area does not automatically mean that everything they say about given area is correct
Every assertion made should be judged on its own merits, not by the person that said it
To give an example, the scientific consensus used to be that certain objects were flammable because they contained a substance called phlogiston. Some items contained more of this substance than others, hence they burned for longer. We now know that is not true, but for several years it was considered to be true. This assertion did not come from some uninformed troglodyte, it came from the "experts"; the scientific community
In this case, the earth is either round or flat regardless of the opinion of the majority of scientists
(a) fellow scientists by using the scientific method, incl. peer review, or
(b) some semieducated laymen who was always skeptic about what these snooty scientists thought they knew?
Trusting scientific authorities is not a logical fallacy.