All:
There is a strange reversal of the “appeal to authority” fallacy in this debate. And that reversal is (at least) as wrong as “appeal to authority”. It probably results from a misunderstanding of the “appeal to authority” fallacy. I explain this as follows.
The anonymous ‘Jeb’ does his usual misrepresentation when he writes of me.
“Your response that Lindzen said it stopped in 1995 is an appeal to authority, not an answer.”
No! On the contrary. I did not cite Lindzen as an “authority” but I informed of Lindzen’s claim and I disagreed with it.
I disputed Lindzen’s claim saying;
“While Lindzen is correct that statistically global warming stopped in 1995, I still maintain that 1998 is the correct year to use when assessing the end of the most recent warming phase.” etc..
Then I summarised my previous explanation of my own view as to why 1998 is the correct date.
So, I was NOT citing Lindzen as an “authority” whose opinion could not or should not be disputed. I was citing Lindzen as a knowledgeable person whose opinion was worthy of discussion, and I disputed that opinion.
Jeb/Boris repeatedly say that I am a “coal industry lobbyist” because I was the Senior Materials Scientist of British Coal (a.k.a. the National Coal Board: NCB) until 1995. To make matters worse in their eyes, I could also mention that I was a member of the Executive of the Association of European Energy Industry Executives from 1995 until 2000.
But I am an independent consultant on matters pertaining to environmental effects of energy use. My present job requires knowledge, experience and expertise of the operation of energy industries. And such knowledge, experience and expertise would not be obtainable without ‘inside’ knowledge and experience of those industries obtained over years of direct involvement. This learning enables me to be independent because I can see the problems of each energy industry and the problems caused by each energy industry.
My knowledge does not mean my understandings of environmental effects of energy use are more “right”, “better” or “worthy” than the understandings of anybody else. But it does mean that I know what I am talking about.
However, the Jeb/Boris’s of this world assert that my knowledge, experience and expertise make my statements on these matters less trustworthy than those of people who are ignorant of these matters.
So, while the Jeb/Boris’s are right to dismiss “appeal to authority”, they are wrong to dismiss opinions of the informed and thus to “appeal to the ignorant”.
Richard
