appeal to tradition
Because we've always
Appeal to tradition is a style of argument claiming something is better or correct because it has always been done that way: We've always hired from within—why change now?
The appeal treats longevity as evidence of value, which can preserve wisdom but also resist needed change.
Also called argument from tradition.
- customHabitual group practice
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- founding fathersMale originators of institutions
- eldersSenior community members
folk wisdom · ancestral knowledge · wisdom · folklore · ritual · nostalgia · conservative · orthodox · old-fashioned · precedent · legacy · roots · handed-down · unwritten rules · tried and true · ancient · time-tested · grandfather
- rhetoricrhetoric, persuasion, oratory, argumentation, debate
- debate tacticsexaggeration, logical fallacy, straw man, reductio ad absurdum, deflection
- fallaciesstraw man, red herring, circular reasoning, ad hominem, fallacy
- logical fallaciesfallacy, straw man, ad hominem, red herring, false dilemma
- rhetoric termsethos, pathos, logos, ad hominem, oratory
- thinking errorsad hominem, straw man, slippery slope, confirmation bias, sunk cost fallacy
appeal to traditionscientific reasoning
Methodical analysis from evidence
valid argument · logical reasoning · sound argument · logical proof · reasoned argument
appeal to traditionempiricism
Knowledge through observation
scientific method · evidence-based reasoning · skeptical inquiry · rationalism
appeal, appeals, appealed, appealing, appellant, appellate, appellation, tradition, traditions