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Appeal to Authority Trick

Apologist will say that citing any published research result about evolution (or anything) is an Appeal to Authority Fallacy. This is a trick to diffuse and redirect an argument. They ask for evidence, and then when you give it, they say that it is logical fallacy to cite it.

This statement from an actual conversation with a creationist:

Belief in evolution is always an appeal to authority, unless you're doing the primary research yourself.

The idea here is that citing any research not done personally by you is invalid because you have not seen the evidence yourself, and therefor you don't have any evidence. The irony of someone who follows a religion based on 2000 year old testimony claiming that nothing can be cited from another is rich to say the least.

Appeal to Authority Fallacy​

Everybody knows that "appeal to authority fallacy" is when you ask the evidence of someone who is NOT an expert, but that they are an authority for other reasons. Like for example, if I say that the Henry Kissinger says that evolution is true. Or Einstein says that evolution is true. Both of these are people who are usually respected for their ideas, but that is not good enough. Being a general authority does not qualify you to talk on all topics.

A claim is true or not independent of who says it. We all know that someone saying something does not make that claim true (or false). The truth does not depend on who says it. Even a Nobel Prize winner saying something does not make it true; he must of course provide evidence just like anyone else.

Doesn't Apply​

However, when you poll a group of experts -- people who if anyone knows the topic, they are the most likely to know the topic -- then it is not appeal to authority, it is instead relying on expertise of the people in involved.

  • Asking a nutrition expert about nutrition is not a fallacy.
  • Asking an Ferrari car expert about Ferrari cars is not a fallacy.

Citing a published scientific result is precisely not an appeal to authority because the published paper includes evidence. No scientific paper is accepted purely because the author is famous. Even Einstein needed to include data and evidence for his claims. Theoretical papers include logic and a method on how to prove that the theory to be correct. Nothing is ever accepted just because a famous person said it.

Irony​

Ironically, all religion is based on claims that are simply provided without evidence. Quoting Moses is in almost every case an appeal to authority. Moses is the famous founder of a religion. However he never gave any evidence to support the 10 commandments. Or that there was a flood. The bible simply contains what Moses said happened, and a follower is expected to believe it because it came from Moses. Or Paul. Or many anonymous sources in the bible.

Dishonesty​

I suspect that most apologists already know that asking for an expert opinion is not a fallacy. Why then argue that asking for an expert opinion is fallacious? it is basically dishonesty at work. They don't care about the truth, but only presenting any argument they can to defend their point of view. Remember, and apologist must defend their religion, even if by using dishonest techniques.

Questions and Answers​

Challenging ideas is how science pushes forward

You are right, everything should be challenged honestly. No scientific conclusion should be taken without demonstration, and in fact you should be able to demonstrate it yourself (if you have the time and the money).

Evolution has literally millions of classified fossils that all support the theory. You should ask to see those fossils, and understand the logic that was used to come to the conclusion. If a flaw in this is found, the paper or the claim should be withdrawn. This is accepted behavior in science.

At the same time none of those fossils support creationism, and creationism has no supporting evidence at all. Just a claim. You are not allowed to ask to see the evidence, and you can not demonstrate the principle for yourself.

But when you don't have the time to do all the research yourself, it is still valid to cite an expert who has followed this method themselves to come to their conclusion.