An appeal to majority is also known as an appeal to belief.
Making an argument that states something to be true because a group of people or the majority believe it to be true, is a fallacy called appeal to belief. It’s also known as argumentum ad populum, appeal to the people, and appeal to the majority.
Logic form:
- A group of people/ many people believe X is true
- It follows that X is true
Example 1:
“Many believe that the US government staged the 9/11 attacks. Therefore, it’s true that they staged it.”
Example 2:
“Many Christians believe that cannabis is the holy herb. It must be so, you want to try?”
A conspiracy theory is intentionally chosen for Example 1. The fallacy usually occurs among people that will argue a point like this. When no proof is available because of lack of evidence, the speaker appeals to common belief.
Although the involvement of the US government in the attacks is arguable, people’s belief is not an acceptable premise. Propositional logics require a premise that will support the conclusion. More precisely, the conclusion has to be a consequence of the premise.
The only consequence from “Many people believe that the US government staged the 9/11 attacks” is “The lack of evidence surrounding the 9/11 attacks, led people to form a conspiracy theory”.
Example 2, although a joke, it points out to the absurdity of the appeal to belief. “It must be so” means that it’s necessarily true. How can necessity arise from beliefs? This fallacy rejects the certainty of knowledge and considers beliefs as superior. Cannabis has some healthy benefits, but it sure isn’t a holy herb. At Least not because many Christians believe it to be.
Some versions of the appeal to belief
Bandwagon
Most sports fans have heard of “bandwagoners”, the fan that jumps to the most popular team. It can be said that bandwagoners are appealing to the majority.
Example 3:
Speaker A: “What’s this? Why are you wearing Ray-Bans? Is it the 50s again?”
Speaker B: “They are trendy again; everyone is wearing them.”
Negative appeal to belief
The fallacy can take a form of an argument that denies something because the group that believes in it is “undesirable”.
Example 4:
“Reincarnation and past lives are nonsense, Scientologists believe it’s true.”
The speaker denies the existence of reincarnation because The Church of Scientology believes in it. There are other, logically correct ways to argue against reincarnation. Stating something to not be true just because a certain group believes in it is also fallacious.
Appealing to the emotion of the majority
This version of the argumentum ad populum is similar to the appeal to emotion fallacy. The emotive appeal to the majority occurs when we state something to be true because many people feel like it’s true.
Example 5:
Many people feel like the scientists are lying about climate change. Therefore, climate change is not real.
Appeal to belief that’s not fallacious
Although beliefs are not considered as a good premise in an argument, beliefs that come from authorities do not cause the fallacy. Another fallacy can occur though, appeal to false authorities. So, take care to use appropriate authorities.
Example 6:
“Many scientists believe there is an unknown force in the galaxy that has a big gravitational pull. Therefore, dark matter is real.”