Appeal to flattery

Informal fallacies → Relevance / appeals

Appeal to flattery is when you butter someone up so they agree—instead of giving a proper reason. Compliments can be genuine, but when they're used to get a "yes" without argument, they're a substitute for reasoning. The listener may feel good but hasn't been given grounds to believe or do the thing. The fallacy is to use flattery in place of evidence or reasons.

Examples

  • Someone as clever as you can see this is the best idea.

  • A person of your taste will obviously choose this.

  • You're too smart to fall for the other side's arguments.

  • Only someone with your experience would understand why we need to do this.

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