Draft:Appeal to precedent

Cogito ergo sum Logic and rhetoric

Key articles

Logical fallacy Syllogism Argument

General logic

Flying carpet fallacy Nemmeno sbagliato Science doesn't know everything Motte and bailey Implicit bias Bad faith

Bad logic

Appeal to novelty Wronger than wrong Appeal to fiction Argument de l'ami On the spot fallacy Willful ignorance v - t - e

Appeal to Precedent is an informal logical fallacy which revolves around the notion that because something has not happened previously, that means it didn't happen and can't happen in the future. It's similar to the appeal to tradition, except instead of calling something good or bad on the basis of it being traditional, it is more based upon if something could objectively have been done.

Structure

1. X has never happened.

2. Therefore, X cannot happen.

A good example of this is the claim made by many 9/11 conspiracy theorists that no steel structure had previously collapsed in a manner similar to that of the twin towers. (Eric Dubay wrote "To begin with, if the official story is true, World Trade Center buildings 1, 2, and 7 all made history on 9/11 by being the first and only steel-framed buildings ever to collapse from fire or a plane crash.") However, this fails to take into account one rather important factor: As the old phrase goes, there's a first time for everything. Even assuming the claim above is correct, all that would mean is that is that 9/11 was the first instance of this possibility actually occurring, not that it didn't occur and is actually evidence of some kind of government plot.