Argument from authority

An argument from authority (argumentum ab auctoritate), also called an appeal to authority, or argumentum ad verecundiam, is a form of argument in which the opinion of an influential figure is used as evidence to support an argument.

All sources agree this is not a valid form of logical proof, that is to say, that this is a logical fallacy (also known as ad verecundiam fallacy) , and therefore, obtaining knowledge in this way is always fallible.

However, in particular circumstances, it is sound to use as a practical although fallible way of obtaining information that can be considered generally likely to be correct if the authority is a real and pertinent intellectual authority and there is universal consensus about these statements in this field. This is specially the case when the revision of all the information and data 'from scratch' would impede advances in an investigation or education. Further ways of validating a source include: evaluating the veracity of previous works by the author, his competence on the topic, his coherence, his conflict of interests, etc.