virus: Studying Ad Populem, was: ideohazard 1.1

From: Kalkor (kalkor@kalkor.com)
Date: Mon Sep 29 2003 - 10:49:18 MDT

  • Next message: Jonathan Davis: "Re:virus: Studying Ad Populem, was: ideohazard 1.1"

    [Kalkor]
    Massive amounts of the thread snipped, to focus on one recurring point I
    keep seeing. Since we're in the hobby of studying memetics, I thought we'd
    study this one logical fallacy a bit as it doesn't seem to get much
    attention but is USED a lot in, for instance, advertising. Ad Populem.

    Below I have quoted Hermit during this exchange. I would like to state that
    the quotes were chosen by scanning through quickly until I found some
    keywords. The object of this post is not to attack anyone, but to discuss
    the finer points of peer review versus the Ad Populem fallacy.

    The Ad Populem fallacy states that it is fallacious in argument to say
    something like "everyone else agrees with him so you should too". So what
    about saying something like "accepted approvingly only by people infested
    with a similar political ideology. His work is not regarded as exceptional
    by any significant academic group and his character is viewed as flawed."

    Is this, too, an example of the Ad Populem fallacy? Does Ad Populem
    necessarily have to do with claiming the support of the crowd? How about
    claiming the disdain of the crowd?

    [Hermit 6] A slew of fallacies, from ad populam (claiming support of the
    crowd) to ad hominem.

    [Hermit 4] It is not at all irrelevant. Neither was it poisoning the well.
    The man takes short cuts in all directions and uses his spurious "authority"
    to make a never ending stream of assertions accepted approvingly only by
    people infested with a similar political ideology. His work is not regarded
    as exceptional by any significant academic group and his character is viewed
    as flawed. The mention of his history suffices to prove that this is neither
    a stretch nor a new phenomenon. In science at least, but in academia
    generally in my experience, reputation is jealously guarded, because you
    have only one. Scruton has one, but it smells a bit like last week's hake. 

    ---
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