The previous essay discussed the family of fallacies that include the appeal to tradition. In this essay I will discuss the test of time and the origin problem. As noted in the previous essay, the gist of the appeal to tradition is that it involves fallaciously inferring that something is correct or true simply because it is a tradition. While concluding that something is correct or true merely because it has been done or believed a long time is an obvious error, those making an appeal to tradition often try to invoke the notion of the test of time. In some cases, the appeal to the test of time is implied while in others it is explicitly made. The appeal to the test of time can be presented as the following argument:
Premise 1: X has withstood the test of time.
Conclusion: X is true, right, or correct, etc.
While this might be a fallacy, this depends on what the test of time is taken to be. If the test of time is just that X has been believed or practiced for a long time, then this is the appeal to tradition fallacy all over again. False beliefs can persist for centuries as can awful practices, so mere historical longevity does not suffice as evidence of truth or goodness.
The test of time can be defined in terms of actual testing. In the case of a belief, it could be argued that the belief has been subject to repeated assessment for a long time using rigorous methods and thus has passed the test of time. While such testing over time would be good evidence for a belief, it still does not mean that the belief should be accepted as true because it is a tradition. Rather, it should be accepted as true because of the evidence found during the repeated testing. As such, if a belief has passed this sort of test of time, then there should be a significant body of evidence to back up the belief and there would be no reason to make a mere appeal to tradition. One could just make an argument using the evidence from these tests as premises.
There are numerous examples of beliefs that have been tested over time, such as the belief that the earth orbits the sun, that fire burns, that the appeal to tradition is a fallacy, and smoking damages your health. There can, of course, be meaningful debate over even well-supported beliefs.
The same approach can be taken for practices, if a practice has been rigorously assessed over time, then there should be a evidence supporting the correctness or goodness of the practice and thus there would be no reason to rely on a mere appeal to tradition. For example, the practice of good hygiene has been assessed over time and has been found useful. Well-supported practices are still subject to debate and practices that involve value judgments (such as in law, ethics and religion) are matters of great dispute.
Using the test of time approach creates a dilemma: if the test of time is just another expression for tradition, then it is just an appeal to tradition. If the test of time involves rigorous testing, then there is no need to appeal to tradition, there would be good evidence and arguments to use instead. One thing that those who use the test of time approach must admit is that this test must have had a starting point. That is, every belief or practice that is defended as traditional must have an origin and this leads to the origin problem.
The origin problem for tradition is that when the tradition was new it could obviously not be defended by appealing to tradition (or the test of time). The obvious question to ask about the origin of a now traditional belief or practice is “what made it better than the alternatives then?”
The answer to this question should still be applicable today, though it might need to be modified to account for changes over time. As such, a fair response to an appeal to tradition is to engage in some mental time travel and ask the appealer why anyone should have accepted the belief or practice before it became a tradition. For example, if someone is appealing to tradition to defend what they see as traditional values, it is reasonable to trace them back to their origin and inquire about what made them better at that time and why they are the best today. Obviously on day zero of a tradition there can be no appeal to tradition. If no reasons can be advanced as to why it was better then, merely saying it is a tradition now provides no reasons to support its alleged truth or correctness.