Appeal to Novelty / Appeal to Age
Appeals to Emotion and Desire
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Fallacy Name:
Appeal to Novelty
Alternative Names:
argumentum ad novitatem
Category:
Appeals to Emotion and Desire
Explanation:
These two are opposites, but are so closely related that they are presented together.
The Latin term for appeal to novelty is argumentum ad novitatem and the Latin term for
appeal to age is argumentum ad antiquitatem. They take the following forms:
1. X is new or fresh, therefore X is correct or better. 2. X is old or long-used, therefore X is correct or better.
The fallacy of an appeal to novelty occurs whenever someone attempts to base a conclusion on how new, recent or "fresh" something is. This is common in advertising - entire marketing campaigns are designed around the goal of getting potential customers to believe that the product is new and therefore worth having.
Examples and Discussion:
Some easy examples of this would include:
3. This diet incorporates the latest findings in chemistry.
4. Our server technology is the newest available.
5. We have a new manager now, so the department should do much better.
In all three of these cases, the argument is only relying upon the apparent newness of things or people involved, and trying to conclude that this newness increases the likelihood that things in question are better or more useful. Sometimes this can be true - new computer technology is often an improvement over old, recent findings in science can help us do things better, and new management can bring new ideas to a job.
However, it is not the case that these things automatically make for improvements. Those "latest findings in chemistry" might simply not be related to how human biology works. The computer servers might be the newest, but the competition might have more servers and better technicians using them. The current manager might not have the same knowledge and experience as the old one, or as other candidates.
Remember that appeals to emotion or desire are fallacies of relevance - they are making the mistake of basing an argument upon something irrelevant rather than something relevant. Thus, in order for the above arguments not to be fallacies, something more than the "newness" of the objects have to be presented. What is needed is an explanation of how this newness is relevant to why we should accept the conclusion.
Fallacy Name:
Appeal to Age
Alternative Names:
argumentum ad antiquitatem
Category:
Appeals to Emotion and Desire
Explanation:
The Appeal to Age fallacy goes in the opposite direction, by arguing that the when
something is old, then this somehow impacts the value or truth of the proposition in
question. The most common form of this is:
6. It is old or long-used, so it must better than this new-fangled stuff.
There are quite a few people out there who are under the mistaken impression that the age of an item, and that alone, is indicative of its value and usefulness. Such an attitude is not entirely without warrant. Just as it is true that a new product can provide new benefits, it is also true that something old may have value because it has worked for a long time.
However, it simply isn't true that we can assume, without further question, that an old object or practice is valuable simply because it is old. Perhaps it has been used a lot because no one has ever known or tried any better. Perhaps new and better replacements are absent simply because people have accepted the fallacious Appeal to Age.
Other Appeals to Emotion:
-->Appeal to Poverty / Appeal to Money
Appeal to Novelty / Appeal to Age
Appeal to Force / Fear (Argumentum ad Baculum)
Appeal to Pity (Argumentum ad Misercordiam)
Appeal to Flattery
