Worksheet 11- Appeal to Inappropriate Authority, Appeal to Tradition, and Appeal to Custom

Identify which fallacy (if any) is being committed below.

1.The guy at the shoe store said these are the best shoes for distance running, so I figured hey, they cost a little
more than I wanted to spend, but I don’t want to end up with knee problems a few months from now.
Appeal to Inappropriate Authority

2. My parents spanked me and their parents spanked them.

Appeal to Tradition

3. If our President says this is the right thing to do, well that’s good enough for me!

Appeal to Inappropriate Authority

4. The company has always done it this way. So I suggest you keep your newfangled ideas to yourself and
follow established procedure.
Appeal to Custom
5. Brains are beautiful. Usually a reference to intellect, but for Deborah Hyde, M.D., neurosurgeon, the brain’s
physical contours are enthralling. “The anatomy is so beautiful. I just find it a turn-on.” Her brain is turned on
by . . . well, brains and other finer things. After surgery that starts before dawn, Dr. Hyde may head out for
lunch and shopping. En route, Lincoln LS provides stimulation for all the senses. Its heated and cooled leather-
trimmed front seats are pleasing to the touch year-round. A reflex-quick aluminum suspension keeps the ride
smooth and steady.
The clarity of the THX Certified Audio System helps induce a harmonious brain state, no matter how snarled
the traffic. And its cabin, trimmed in American walnut burl and satin nickel, flashes through the optic nerve
and stimulates the occipital cortex. Pleasure is registered. The reaction? “I love this car.” Dopamine is
released, producing a feeling of well-being. Dry Hyde adds, “Current research suggests that the nucleus
accumbens is very important in pleasure. It’s not the cortex, where cognitive thought occurs. It’s deeper in the
brain, where feeling is.”
Thus, it’s possible luxury may be perceived before it reaches the cortex—before you can “think” it, you are
already enjoying it. And craving more. “There’s so much going on neurally that it’s conceivable that we never
experience the same thing the same way twice.”
The brain: mind-boggling. But whatever mysteries that lie within its folds, there’s no better stimulation for the
brain of a driver than an empty road, a full tank of fuel and energizing music over the sound system. But be
aware: the pleasures of the road are extremely habit-forming. Go online for an inside view of all the ways the
Lincoln LS has been designed to tickle your neurons.
(“The Pleasure Neuron,” an advertisement for the
Lincoln LS, Inc. Magazine, May 2005)

Appeal to Inappropriate Authority

6. As we’ve seen with the Mets debacle, however, “infrastructure” can be an awfully flexible term when it
comes to stadium finance. A recent study by Rutgers professor Judith Grant Long found that the average pro
sports stadium costs the public 40 percent more than the stated price tag—and that figure has risen in recent
years, thanks largely to undercounted “land and infrastructure” costs. “If the Mets plan goes through,” says
Long, “it’s safe to assume that the actual deal, post-approval, will involve public costs far higher than the
initial reports.”
(Neil DeMause, “A Queen’s Ransom,” Village Voice, June 15–21, 2005)
No Fallacy

7. It takes 21 pounds of grain to produce a pound of meat. Millions are starving. Put two and two together: if
North Americans ate just 10 percent less meat in a year, there’d be enough grain to feed 65 million people.
No Fallacy
8. [M]any of the prochoice movement’s writers and intellectuals would have us believe that the early fetus . . .
is nothing more than a dewy piece of tissue, to be excised without regret . . . Yet . . . [a] pregnant woman . . .
doesn’t call the growth inside her an embryo or fetus. She calls it a baby.
(Jason DeParle, “Beyond the Legal Rights: Why Liberals and
Feminists Don’t Like to Talk about the Morality of Abortion,”
Washington Monthly, 1989)
Appeal to Inappropriate Authority

9.Anasi: The rape shield law should be tossed out! It’s important to know whether the woman who’s accusing
some man of rape is in the habit of saying yes.
Hubert: How is that relevant? She could’ve said no on the occasion in question.
Anasi: Yeah, but unless we’ve got a witness or circumstantial evidence, it’s just her word against his. So either
we have to decide who is more likely to tell the truth, which we probably can’t do since we don’t know either
of them. Or we have to decide which story is more likely.
Hubert: You mean if she’s in the habit of saying yes, she probably said yes that night.
Anasi: Right.
Hubert: Okay, and if he’s in the habit of forcing women, he probably forced that night.
Anasi: Right. The past history of both people should be admissible in court.
Hubert: But people can change.
Anasi: Sure, but hey, that’s what a reputation is for. I mean, come on, if I’ve got a reputation for being the most
non-violent person in the world, if no one has ever seen me become in the least aggressive, I think that should
be admissible in court if I’m accused of rape one day!
Hubert: And if I tend to say yes to men I’ve just met. . .
Anasi: You got it.
Hubert: But that’s basing a conclusion on past practice.
Anasi: No, it’s basing a conclusion on character.

Appeal to Custom