False attribution
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The fallacy of a false attribution occurs when an advocate appeals to an irrelevant, unqualified, unidentified, biased or fabricated source in support of an argument. A contextomy is a type of false attribution.
A particular case of misattribution is the Matthew effect: a quotation is often attributed to someone more famous than the real author. This leads the quotation to be more famous, but the real author to be forgotten.[1]
[edit] Examples
- Associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Peter Doran, was the lead author of a research paper about Antarctic temperatures that was published in the journal Nature in January 2002. Because he and his colleagues found that some parts of Antarctica had cooled between 1986 and 2000, his paper has been frequently cited by opponents of the global warming theory, such as Ann Coulter and Michael Savage. In an opinion piece of the July 27, 2006 New York Times, Doran characterized this as a "misinterpretation" and stated, "I have never thought such a thing ... I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming." "Scientific findings run counter to theory of global warming," said a headline on an editorial in The San Diego Union-Tribune. One conservative commentator wrote,"It’s ironic that two studies suggesting that a new Ice Age may be under way may end the global warming debate."[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Mermin, N. David (2004). "Could Feynman Have Said This?". Physics Today 57: 10. doi:.
- ^ Cold, Hard Facts by PETER DORAN Thursday, 27 July 2006, in the New York Times
[edit] External links
- Quoting Out of Context Fallacy Files.
- Humbug! The skeptic’s field guide to spotting fallacies in thinking – textbook on fallacies. False Attribution (p56).
