The appeal to authority (also known as the argument from authority, authority fallacy, appeal to expertise, appeal to expert opinion, and argumentum ad verecundiam) is a logical fallacy that occurs when a claim is assumed to be true because it was made by a perceived authority figure.
What’s this got to do with photography? Well, it’s when a photographer, for example, claims that the camera settings they use are the right ones because someone (who is perceived to be an expert and/or qualified in some way) says they are the right settings. Simply put…‘It must be right because so-and-so says so, and they’re an expert’.
It doesn’t take much to realise that this is a rather silly argument because it opens the photographer who says this open to all sorts of ridicule and criticism. E.g.
- How do YOU KNOW the photographer offering this opinion is correct in the first place?
- How many other photographer’s advice have you rejected in order to arrive at this claim?
- Being a so called expert does not necessarily make their claim right.
- Why does being an expert make what they say ‘true’?
- Experts can be wrong.
- Does the consensus of opinion from other photographers on the same subject agree with the original claim?
- Is the advice given biased? Crucial I think.
The world of photography is full of ‘experts’ and if we are seeking advice and knowledge from others to improve our own photography then I think it’s rather sensible to seek out as much advice as possible, from a range of sources, and take away perhaps a mixture that works for us. This is far better than relying on just one piece of advice from one so-called expert. That path leads to arrogance and leaves us open to criticism and unable to accept other’s advice.
Happy snappin’ folks
Meter The Light 