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What is the name of the fallacy that goes along the lines of:

My brother is a doctor so I know about medicine.

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    It should be an appeal to authority (in this specific case borrowed, or by association).
    – Bread
    Commented Feb 10, 2019 at 2:00
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    @Bread That looks like an answer, not a comment. Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 18:58
  • Maybe, but it's probably a duplicate question anyway. It was more a suggestion than an answer, since I'm not that sure about it. I'm surprised someone hasn't already either voted to close or given a real answer by now.
    – Bread
    Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 22:07
  • Possible duplicate of What fallacy assumes that being familiar with something makes one an expert on it?
    – Bread
    Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 22:14
  • There's a question already on record with the answer "appeals to (irrelevant) authority". It also refers to "authority by association" (what I said above): What fallacy assumes that being familiar [e.g. "my brother"] with something makes one an expert on it?
    – Bread
    Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 22:18

1 Answer 1

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Because one's brother is a doctor does not make one a medical expert. To claim one is without having the actual expertise could be viewed as an argument from false authority.

Bo Bennett describes this fallacy as:

When a person making a claim is presented as an expert who should be trusted when his or her expertise is not in the area being discussed.

As Bread suggests in a comment this is similar to another question although the artificial intelligence scenario presented in the other question may make this different enough for a separate answer: What fallacy assumes that being familiar with something makes one an expert on it?


Bennett, B. Argument from False Authority. Retrieved on May 15, 2019 from Logically Fallacious at https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/231/Argument-from-False-Authority

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