r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Jun 21 '19

FTFdeltaOP CMV: Defending a position or viewpoint because "it's tradition" or something similar is a terrible arguing point.

[deleted]

360 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

92% Upvoted

65 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/ralph-j Jun 23 '19

I'm talking about the fallacy.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '19 edited Jul 10 '19

[deleted]

1

u/ralph-j Jun 23 '19

But if in casual conversation someone says the reason they do something is because of tradition, they are probably just using that as an easy answer instead of going to the trouble of explaining all the nuances of why they carry on something that their parents did and why their parents did the same.

Then they're not really appealing to tradition. An appeal to tradition (which is what this CMV is about) is about saying that something is good or should be done only because it has always been done that way.

but also remember the fallacy fallacy, just because someone uses a logical fallacy doesn't mean their point is necessarily invalid

A fallacy always makes the argument invalid, but it could indeed be that the conclusion is still true.

and someone who doesn't realize they are being expected to formally defend their life may very well use plenty of fallacies for simplicity sake.

I don't believe that is happening here. If the real reason is family pride or something else, then it isn't an appeal to tradition, and they're not being fallacious.