Four people were fatally shot at a home in Los Angeles after a family argument, authorities said.
(AP) -- George Zimmerman was charged Monday with assault after deputies were called to the home where he lived with his girlfriend, who claimed he pointed a shotgun at her during an argument, authorities said.
Even in the best of times, argument from authority is generally a bad idea.
No, the point is that Mr. Bernanke's apostasy may help undermine the argument from authority — nobody who matters disagrees!
As St. Thomas [Aquinas] observed . . . in the field of reason, the argument from authority is the feeblest".
We had the usual argument: The Authority, Survivor Series, General Managers, Heavyweight Championship shots, a worrying amount of latex, blah de blah blah.
In his ruling, Judge Noel L. Hillman of Federal District Court in New Jersey said Mr. Wolf's "argument and authority are persuasive," but he ultimately tossed out the lawsuit, citing Concepcion.
Whyte's "guide to clear thinking" analyses numerous rhetorical devices, such as the argument to authority, inconsistency, begging the question, "morality fever", and so on.
This ploy, an example of a related logical fallacy called the argument from authority, taps our intuitive beliefs so forcefully that we psychology professors spend time training our introductory students to actively resist it.
The point isn't that these people are necessarily right (although they are), it is that Scarborough's attempt at argument through authority is easily refuted by even a casual stroll through recent economic punditry.
