Appeal to Common Practice. Your mother has probably said it to you more times than you can remember: "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you jump off the bridge, too?" Well, mothers can be great critical thinkers, and this is one of the best replies to a fallacious appeal to common practice, in which an action is justified because "everyone is doing it." In a sound argument, the action must be justified on its own merits, and what others are doing, and the conclusions they may have reached, are of little or no consequence. Just because "everyone is doing it" (a claim that is often unsupported, exaggerated, or vague in the first place), doesn't make it right to do. Consider the following examples of fallacious appeals to common practice:
- It's ok to copy someone else's homework. Everyone does it once in a while.
- You can pretty well ignore the speed limit in California. Everyone else does.
- Why can't I have my tongue pierced? All the other kids in school are doing it?
- It's ok to cheat on your taxes. I saw a survey that showed more than half of all taxpayers lie about something on their returns.
Appeal to Tradition. Another form of "common
practice" is a fallacious appeal to tradition.
Instead of using the justification, "Everyone is doing it," in appeal to
tradition, the rationalization is, "We've always done it that way." So, for
example, everything from two-hour lunches to discrimination on the basis
of race or gender can be explained away because "we've always done it that
way." Traditions can be very important to us, but it's hard to imagine a
harmful action that could be justified solely by the fact that it is
traditional.
Two wrongs make a right is a fallacy closely related to appeal to
common practice. In this case, the argument is it's acceptable to
do something, not because other people are doing it, but because they are
doing other things just as bad. Notice that "two wrongs" carries the
implicit assumption that the action is wrong, but its commission is
acceptable in the circumstances, while in "common practice" the suggestion
is that a questionable action is made right
by the frequency of its commission. Notice also
that claim of the other's "bad" action is often unsupported, exaggerated,
or theoretical--not that its verification would make a second wrong right.
In addition, there is often an element of retribution in "two wrongs"--it's
not just that other people are doing something wrong, but that they are
doing it to you, that seems to excuse what, in another situation,
you would likely recognize as unacceptable. Here are a few examples:
1. Which of the following claims is a
fallacious appeal to common practice?
2. Which of the following does not fit the
fallacy of "two wrong make a right"?
1. Which of the following claims is a
fallacious appeal to common practice? You answered:
In appeal to common practice, the reason given to excuse an action is that
everyone is doing it. That would be like, in this case, saying, "Lots
of people are getting divorced--let's get one, too!" Instead, the claim
here is just that divorces are so common that there's nothing to be
ashamed about. The logic may not be sound--since it assumes that we should
never be ashamed of anything that happens often--but this is not an example
of a fallacious appeal to common practice.
1. Which of the following claims is a
fallacious appeal to common practice? You answered:
Compare this one to the claim, "Let's try that new drug. Everyone
is doing it." They are similar in that a decision is being suggested on
the basis of the (reported) actions of others. But they differ in that
there we usually assume nothing is wrong in going to a restaurant, and
that may not be the case with doing drugs. Appeal to common practice
is typically used to justify an action, and it is unlikely that trying
a new restaurant requires that kind of justification.
1. Which of the following claims is a
fallacious appeal to common practice? You answered:
The claim here seems to be that violating the law (curfew) is acceptable
because everyone violates it. This is a clear example of a fallacious
appeal to common practice: the action here is illegal, but is justified
on that basis of its frequency.
1. Which of the following claims is a
fallacious appeal to common practice?
In a fallacious appeal to common practice, the (alleged) fact that everyone
is doing it is used as a justification for doing something of a questionable
nature at best. Here, however, there seems to be nothing disreputable about
taking the job, and the phrase, "Everyone has to start somewhere," is only
generally applicable to the specific case of that job.
2. Which of the following does not fit the
fallacy of "two wrong make a right"?
You consider the actions of your wife towards you as wrong, and that's your
justification for committing your own wrongdoing, so fits the definition of
the fallacy of two wrongs make a right. Notice, incidentally, that there
would be no fallacy in the argument, "Sure, I cheat on my wife when I get
the chance. There's nothing wrong in that." We might reject the evaluative
claim that "there's nothing wrong in that," and therefore the argument with
it, but if so the argument would merely be unsound, and not fallacious.
2. Which of the following does not fit the
fallacy of "two wrongs make a right"?
This is an example of doing something wrong because (according to you)
someone else would have done it anyway, given the chance. Even though
the second wrong is purely theoretical here, and not even directed at
you, this is still a case of the fallacy of two wrongs make a right.
2. Which of the following does not fit the
fallacy of "two wrongs make a right"?
Tapping into your neighbor's cable is wrong, but the justification here is
that the neighbor won't lose anything (of course not--you'd be stealing
from the cable company). This may be bad reasoning, but it's not the
fallacy of two wrong make a right.
2. Which of the following does not fit the
fallacy of "two wrongs make a right"?
Not paying you a fair salary may be wrong, but it doesn't justify stealing
office supplies. This is a clear case of trying to make two wrongs "even
things out" to a right.
Choose one of the following to go directly to another misdirected appeal:
Exercises
There's nothing to be ashamed about--lots of people get divorced!
Let's try that new restaurant. Everyone else is eating there!
Don't worry about the curfew. No one goes home before 11:00!
I don't mind taking this delivery job. Everyone has to start somewhere!
Sure, I cheat on my wife when I get the chance. The way she treats
me--she deserves it!
The money was just sitting there on the chair. If I hadn't taken
it, someone else would have.
What's wrong with tapping into my neighbor's cablevision line? He'll never even know about it!
There's nothing to be ashamed about--lots of people get divorced!
Let's try that new restaurant. Everyone else is eating there!
Don't worry about the curfew. No one goes home before 11:00!
I don't mind taking this delivery job. Everyone has to start somewhere!
Sure, I cheat on my wife when I get the chance. The way she treats
me--she deserves it!
The money was just sitting there on the chair. If I hadn't taken
it, someone else would have.
What's wrong with tapping into my neighbor's cablevision line? He'll never even know about it!
I know they won't pay me what I'm worth at my job, so I take home office
supplies whenever I can, just to even things out.
