zlacker

> when the authority is indeed an expert.

can someone be a considered authority without being an expert.

edit:

I am using authority from the example in wikipedia

"One example of the use of the appeal to authority in science dates to 1923,[20] when leading American zoologist Theophilus Painter declared, based on poor data and conflicting observations he had made,[21][22] that humans had 24 pairs of chromosomes. From the 1920s until 1956,[23] scientists propagated this "fact" based on Painter's authority"

Painter presumably was an expert. So not sure why you are saying why its ok if the person is an expert.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority

>>domino+(OP)
Some political appointees could probably be considered an authority by title and not a subject expert. That might hold true for some ambassadors. I guess it really depends on what exact definition of authority you are using.

>>domino+(OP)
Your boss, an elder, a church and lots of others can be authorities without being experts in the topic at hand.

>>domino+(OP)
Yes; government ministers/secretaries come to mind.

>>domino+(OP)
Parents, older siblings, managers/bosses, almost any TV personality. Also you might have someone who has a profession in the topic at hand, but isn't an expert. Like your older cousin who is a first-year Comp Sci major probably isn't the hacking/security expert you should be appealing to.