Also Known as: Ad Populum
The Appeal to Popularity has the following form:
- Most people approve of X (have favorable emotions towards X).
- Therefore X is true.
The basic idea is that a claim is accepted as being true simply
because most people are favorably inclined towards the claim. More
formally, the fact that most people have favorable emotions associated
with the claim is substituted in place of actual evidence for the claim.
A person falls prey to this fallacy if he accepts a claim as being true
simply because most other people approve of the claim.
It is clearly fallacious to accept the approval of the majority as
evidence for a claim. For example, suppose that a skilled speaker
managed to get most people to absolutely love the claim that 1+1=3. It
would still not be rational to accept this claim simply because most
people approved of it. After all, mere approval is no substitute for a
mathematical proof. At one time people approved of claims such as
"the world is flat", "humans cannot survive at speeds
greater than 25 miles per hour", "the sun revolves around the
earth" but all these claims turned out to be false.
This sort of "reasoning" is quite common and can be quite
an effective persusasive device. Since most humans tend to conform with
the views of the majority, convincing a person that the majority
approves of a claim is often an effective way to get him to accept it.
Advertisers often use this tactic when they attempt to sell products by
claiming that everyone uses and loves their products. In such cases they
hope that people will accept the (purported) approval of others as a
good reason to buy the product.
This fallacy is vaguely similar to such fallacies as
Appeal to Belief
and
Appeal to Common Practice.
However, in the case of an Ad Populum the
appeal is to the fact that most people approve of a claim. In the case
of an
Appeal to Belief,
the appeal is to the fact that most people
believe a claim. In the case of an
Appeal to Common Practice,
the appeal
is to the fact that many people take the action in question.
This fallacy is closely related to the
Appeal to Emotion
fallacy, as discussed in the entry for that fallacy.
- "My fellow Americans...there has been some talk that the
government is overstepping its bounds by allowing police to enter
peoples' homes without the warrants traditionally required by the
Constitution. However, these are dangerous times and dangerous times
require appropriate actions. I have in my office thousands of letters
from people who let me know, in no uncertain terms, that they heartily
endorse the war against crime in these United States. Because of this
overwhelming approval, it is evident that the police are doing the right
thing."
- "I read the other day that most people really like the new
gun control laws. I was sort of suspicious of them, but I guess if most
people like them, then they must be okay."
- Jill and Jane have some concerns that the rules their sorority has
set are racist in character. Since Jill is a decent person, she brings
her concerns up in the next meeting. The president of the sorority
assures her that there is nothing wrong with the rules, since the
majority of the sisters like them. Jane accepts this ruling but Jill
decides to leave the sorority.
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