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AffableAmbler
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Earlier today, I asked a programming question on a forum. I phrased the question as "What is the best way to do x?" Someone responded with something to the effect of, "the best way is usually with a tool that is widely used and accepted by established programmers for solving this sort of problem," and recommended a tool. I agreed that this is usually the case and took his advice without a second thought but it made me think about other situations where it's common to take for granted that things that are widely accepted by experts are of high quality, in turn leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy as more and more people accept it on account of its acceptance.

On the one hand, it seems somewhat similar to the bandwagon argument, which is of course fallacious. On the other hand, we're talking about a consensus among experts (for the sake of argument, let's assume they're experts) and not just ordinary people who made a decision to use one thing over another. Does an argument based on this alone have merit or is it totally fallacious? Does it even matter that it's the consensus of a group of experts and not the informed opinion of a single expert (which would simply be an appeal to authority)?

Earlier today, I asked a programming question on a forum. I phrased the question as "What is the best way to do x?" Someone responded with something to the effect of, "the best way is usually with a tool that is widely used and accepted by established programmers for solving this sort of problem," and recommended a tool. I agreed that this is usually the case and took his advice without a second thought but it made me think about other situations where it's common to take for granted that things that are widely accepted by experts are of high quality, in turn leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy as more and people accept it on account of its acceptance.

On the one hand, it seems somewhat similar to the bandwagon argument, which is of course fallacious. On the other hand, we're talking about a consensus among experts (for the sake of argument, let's assume they're experts) and not just ordinary people who made a decision to use one thing over another. Does an argument based on this alone have merit or is it totally fallacious? Does it even matter that it's the consensus of a group of experts and not the informed opinion of a single expert (which would simply be an appeal to authority)?

Earlier today, I asked a programming question on a forum. I phrased the question as "What is the best way to do x?" Someone responded with something to the effect of, "the best way is usually with a tool that is widely used and accepted by established programmers for solving this sort of problem," and recommended a tool. I agreed that this is usually the case and took his advice without a second thought but it made me think about other situations where it's common to take for granted that things that are widely accepted by experts are of high quality, in turn leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy as more and more people accept it on account of its acceptance.

On the one hand, it seems somewhat similar to the bandwagon argument, which is of course fallacious. On the other hand, we're talking about a consensus among experts (for the sake of argument, let's assume they're experts) and not just ordinary people who made a decision to use one thing over another. Does an argument based on this alone have merit or is it totally fallacious? Does it even matter that it's the consensus of a group of experts and not the informed opinion of a single expert (which would simply be an appeal to authority)?

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AffableAmbler
AffableAmbler
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Is it a fallacious to argue that something is correct, of good quality, or acceptable because a community of experts has established it as such?

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AffableAmbler
AffableAmbler
  • 297
  • 2
  • 7

Is it a fallacious to argue that something is correct, of good quality, or acceptable because a community of experts has established it as such?

Earlier today, I asked a programming question on a forum. I phrased the question as "What is the best way to do x?" Someone responded with something to the effect of, "the best way is usually with a tool that is widely used and accepted by established programmers for solving this sort of problem," and recommended a tool. I agreed that this is usually the case and took his advice without a second thought but it made me think about other situations where it's common to take for granted that things that are widely accepted by experts are of high quality, in turn leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy as more and people accept it on account of its acceptance.

On the one hand, it seems somewhat similar to the bandwagon argument, which is of course fallacious. On the other hand, we're talking about a consensus among experts (for the sake of argument, let's assume they're experts) and not just ordinary people who made a decision to use one thing over another. Does an argument based on this alone have merit or is it totally fallacious? Does it even matter that it's the consensus of a group of experts and not the informed opinion of a single expert (which would simply be an appeal to authority)?