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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6849548" data-attributes="member: 42582">[MENTION=23751]Maxperson[/MENTION], you have not quoted Wikipedia accurately.Here is a screencap of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority#Logical_form" target="_blank">that part of the page</a>:[ATTACH]75529[/ATTACH]As everyone can now see, what you have quoted is the general form taken by a legitimate argument from authority - the first three lines state the premises (in general form) and then the final (fourth) line states the conclusion that follows, namely, that X is probably or presumptively true.Wikipedia then goes on to explain that "[t]he argument is fallacious if one or more of the premises are false, or if it is claimed that the conclusion must be true on the basis of authority, rather than only probably true". That is, the argument is a fallacy only if (i) the authority X in fact does not affirm A (ie the proponent of the argument is making a false attribution of A to X), or (ii) X is not an authority in respect of the relevant subject matter, or (iii) X is not a participant in a consensus of authorities, or (iv) the proponent of the argument asserts that X's affirming of A gives deductive rather than presumptive or probabilistic grounds for the truth of A.Given that, in the case of the usage of irrationality, neither (i) nor (iv) holds, you must be arguing for either (ii) or (iii), that is, either you doubt that I am any sort of expert on the usage of the word "irrational", or you think that the experts on such usage are engaged in controversy over its proper usage. I'm obviously not the best judge of my own expertise, but I do have experience in using the word, and seeing it used, among a particular professional group who have reason to care about its usage; and I don't know of any rampant controversy around the question of proper usage. Hence there is no fallacy.</blockquote>

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