3 1 9
M o r e F a l l a c i e s o f R e l e v a n c e
governmentshouldnotdowhatthepeopleoppose,soweshouldnotgetin-
volvedinNorthKorea.Theargumentalsoseemstosuggestanotherreason
whyAmericashouldnotgetinvolved—namely,thatifwedo,ourtroops
willbestuckinNorthKorea.Theonlyreasongivenforbelievingthisisthat
lotsofAmericanpeoplebelieveit.Sotheargumentseemstobethat,because
somanyAmericansbelieveit,itmustbetrue.
Suchanargumentisnotanappealtoauthority,sincenopersonisclaimed
tobeanauthorityoranexpert.Instead,theargumentisanappeal to popular
opinion.Whenthepopularopinionissupposedtohavebeensharedfora
longtime,theargumentcanbecalledanappeal to tradition.Sucharguments
assumethat,whenmanypeopleagreeonsomeissueoragreeforalong
time,theyarelikelytoberight.Thisassumptionisoftenincorrect.Anopin-
ionmightbesharedbymanypeoplejustbecausetheyalllearneditfrom
acommonsource,suchastelevisionorsomeprominentpoliticians.Then
thesharedopinionisnotreliableunlessitssourceisreliable.Ofcourse,the
sharedopinionmightbetrue;AmericamightgetstuckinNorthKoreaifit
gotinvolved.Buttheargumentforthisconclusionisstillfallacious,because
themerefactthatanopinioniswidelyheldisnotenoughtoshowthatthe
opinionistrue.
Althoughsuchappealstopopularopinionareoftenfallacious,thereare
alsosomeareaswherepopularopinionisevidenceoftruth.Ifmostpeople
whoreadabookthinkthatthebookisentertainingandeasytounderstand,
thenitisentertainingandeasytounderstand.Ifmostpeoplethinkthatthe
skylooksblue,thisisevidencethattheskydoeslookblue.Thus,notallap-
pealstopopularopinionaredefectiveorfallacious.
Todeterminewhetherornotaparticularappealtopopularopinionisfal-
lacious,weneedtoaskquestionsthataremuchlikethequestionsweasked
aboutappealstoauthority.Theseinclude:
1.Isthisopinionactuallywidelyheld?
2.Isthisthekindofareawherepopularopinionislikelytoberight?
3.Whyisanappealtopopularopinionbeingmadeatall?
Evenwhensuperficialexaminationrevealsthatanappealtopopularopin-
ionisfallacious,suchargumentsstillseemtoconvincemanypeople.This
mightbebecausemanypeoplewanttoagreewithotherssothattheywillbe
popularandwillnothavetothinkforthemselves.
Appeals to Emotion
Otherappealsarenottobeliefsbut,instead,toemotions.Onecommon
formofappealtoemotionisanappeal to pity.Defenselawyersoftendwell
onthesadcircumstancesinwhichadefendantgrewuporonhowbadly
thedefendant’sfamilywillbehurtifthedefendantgoestoprison.Suchan
appealtopitymightshowthatthedefendantshouldnotreceivethemaxi-
mumsentence.Butwhensuchanappealtopityisusedtoarguethatthe
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