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EricE

"Appeal to Accomplishment" is not always a fallacy?

Is this an  "Appeal to Accomplishment" fallacy?

Building a Lego project, Person  A has built another instance of the thing before, Person B is building the project for the first time.

They get to a tricky point in the construction, Person B wants to do things a certain way, but Person A says "Don't do that, it won't work! Do it this other way, and it will work. I know since I have seen this problem before and I had successfully accomplished getting past it."

Is Person A making the "Appeal to Accomplishment" fallacy?

asked on Wednesday, Apr 19, 2023 12:21:53 PM by EricE

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Answers

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Bo Bennett, PhD
5

There is no fallacy here. Person A is talking from experience. They could be wrong (meaning it actually can work what person B wants to do), but there is no fallacy.

answered on Wednesday, Apr 19, 2023 12:24:00 PM by Bo Bennett, PhD

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TrappedPrior (RotE)
0

Dr Bo gave a good answer. I think the "Appeal to Accomplishment" looks more like this:

  • Person A puts forward a thesis
  • Person B dismisses the thesis because Person A has not accomplished as many feats as Person B, or some other Person C

and

  • Person A puts forward a thesis
  • Person A claims that them being accomplished makes the thesis true  or  Person B assumes the thesis is true because Person A is accomplished

The "feats" in this case aren't relevant. For example, Person A criticising the leader of their country, only for Person B to retort that they should keep quiet, as they have never served in political office before.

answered on Thursday, Apr 20, 2023 05:43:51 PM by TrappedPrior (RotE)

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