Argumentum ad Hominem Translation: "Argument against the man", Latin Leonardo da Vinci - Study of Human Proportions
Alias: The Fallacy of Personal Attack
Type: Genetic Fallacy Exposition:
A debater commits the Ad Hominem Fallacy when he introduces irrelevant personal premisses about his opponent. Such red herrings may successfully distract the opponent or the audience from the topic of the debate. Exposure:
Ad Hominem is the most familiar of informal fallacies, and—with the possible exception of Undistributed Middle—the most familiar logical fallacy of them all. It is also one of the most used and abused of fallacies, and both justified and unjustified accusations of Ad Hominem abound in any debate.
The phrase "ad hominem argument" is sometimes used to refer to a very different type of argument, namely, one that uses premisses accepted by the opposition to argue for a position. In other words, if you are trying to convince someone of something, using premisses that the person accepts—whether or not you believe them yourself. This is not necessarily a fallacious argument, and is often rhetorically effective.
Subfallacies:
* Abusive: An Abusive Ad Hominem occurs when an attack on the character or other irrelevant personal qualities of the opposition—such as appearance—is offered as evidence against his or her position. Such attacks are often effective distractions ("red herrings"), because the opponent feels it necessary to defend herself, thus being distracted from the topic of the debate.
* Circumstantial: A Circumstantial Ad Hominem is one in which some irrelevant personal circumstance surrounding the opponent is offered as evidence against the opponent's position. This fallacy is often introduced by phrases such as: "Of course, that's what you'd expect him to say." The fallacy claims that the only reason why he argues as he does is because of personal circumstances, such as standing to gain from the argument's acceptance.
This form of the fallacy needs to be distinguished from criticisms directed at testimony, which are not fallacious, since pointing out that someone stands to gain from testifying a certain way would tend to cast doubt upon that testimony. For instance, when a celebrity endorses a product, it is usually in return for money, which lowers the evidentiary value of such an endorsement—often to nothing! In contrast, the fact that an arguer may gain in some way from an argument's acceptance does not affect the evidentiary value of the argument, for arguments can and do stand or fall on their own merits.
* Poisoning the Well * Tu Quoque
Source:
S. Morris Engel, With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies (Fifth Edition) (St. Martin's, 1994), pp. 198-206. Resources:
* Alan Brinton, "The Ad Hominem" in Fallacies: Classical and Contemporary Readings, edited by Hans V. Hanson and Robert C. Pinto (Penn State Press, 1995), pp. 213-222. * Frans H. Van Eemeren & Rob Grootendoorst, "Argumentum Ad Hominem: A Pragma-Dialectical Case in Point" in Fallacies: Classical and Contemporary Readings, edited by Hans V. Hanson & Robert C. Pinto (Penn State Press, 1995), pp. 223-228. * Douglas N. Walton, Arguer's Position: A Pragmatic Study of Ad Hominem Attack, Criticism, Refutation, and Fallacy (Greenwood, 1985).
Acknowledgement:
The Da Vinci sketch art print is available from AllPosters.
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04:01 PM
PFF
System Bot
fierodeletre Member
Posts: 834 From: Behind Animal's Drum Set. Registered: Oct 2006
Interesting article, Bill. I love classical debate. I am curious, though, do you perchance know what the origins of the term "red Herring" are?
------------------ 1984 Fiero SE, White, first love, sold... 1986 Fiero SE 2M6, gold, sold... sniff... 1987 Fiero GT, Blue, 3.4/4T60, sold... sigh... 1988 Fiero 2M4, the Fox Still looking for that perfect CJB 88 GT getrag...
The Word Detective explains that the curing process turns the fish a red color and lends it a distinctive smell. The fish was tied to a string and dragged through the woods to teach hunting dogs to follow a trail. Later, red herrings may also have been used to confuse the hounds in order to prolong a foxhunt or to test their ability to stay with a scent.
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04:23 PM
fierodeletre Member
Posts: 834 From: Behind Animal's Drum Set. Registered: Oct 2006
Dude English is so messed up, I love it. Thanks for that Bill.
------------------ 1984 Fiero SE, White, first love, sold... 1986 Fiero SE 2M6, gold, sold... sniff... 1987 Fiero GT, Blue, 3.4/4T60, sold... sigh... 1988 Fiero 2M4, the Fox Still looking for that perfect CJB 88 GT getrag...
The Word Detective explains that the curing process turns the fish a red color and lends it a distinctive smell. The fish was tied to a string and dragged through the woods to teach hunting dogs to follow a trail. Later, red herrings may also have been used to confuse the hounds in order to prolong a foxhunt or to test their ability to stay with a scent.
Cool. Learned something today.
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04:36 PM
fierodeletre Member
Posts: 834 From: Behind Animal's Drum Set. Registered: Oct 2006
------------------ 1984 Fiero SE, White, first love, sold... 1986 Fiero SE 2M6, gold, sold... sniff... 1987 Fiero GT, Blue, 3.4/4T60, sold... sigh... 1988 Fiero 2M4, the Fox Still looking for that perfect CJB 88 GT getrag...
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04:38 PM
NEPTUNE Member
Posts: 10199 From: Ticlaw FL, and some other places. Registered: Aug 2001
The first place I ever heard the term "hominem" was here:
