Appeal to belief
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In logic, an appeal to belief (also called the appeal to the majority or the argumentum ad populum) is a logical fallacy that is committed when someone asserts that a proposition should be held to be true, or more plausible, merely because it is widely believed.
The fallacy is commonly found in arguments over ethics:
- Most Americans hold that the Vietnam War was morally wrong. Therefore, the Vietnam War was morally wrong.
- Southern segregationists didn't see anything wrong with what they were doing. Therefore, it must not have been wrong. (or: Therefore, it wasn't wrong to them.)
It is more rare for the fallacy to be committed in matters of metaphysics or positive science, since relatively few people would fail to see the fallacy in arguments such as:
- Just about everyone in Ptolemy's day was convinced that the Sun travelled around the Earth. Therefore, the Sun travelled around the Earth in Ptolemy's day.
There are some exceptions, however--specifically, it is sometimes committed when trying to convince a person that widely unpopular theories are false. For example:
- Throughout history, most people have believed in some sort of God. Therefore, it's foolish for you not to believe in God.
- 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.
It's worth noting that the appeal to belief is similar in structure to certain other logical fallacies that involve a confusion between the justification of a belief and its widespread acceptance by a given group of people. In the appeal to belief, the group of people is the population at large. When the appeal is to the beliefs of a group of supposed experts, then the argument 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 the argument from belief takes on the form of an appeal to tradition.
Further, as with the appeal to tradition and the appeal to authority, there are a limited set of cases in which an appeal to belief may not be fallacious. For example, when the subject being considered are the results of democratic processes, points of etiquette, or other matters of social convention, arguments of the following form may be valid:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.