Post by Radrook Admin on Mar 14, 2020 20:19:37 GMT -5
Ad hominem: Focusing on the Person and not the issue at hand
Ad hominem is a Latin word for a type of argument. It is a word often used in rhetoric. Rhetoric is the science of speaking well, and convincing other people of your ideas.
Translated to English, ad hominem means against the person. In other words, when someone makes an ad hominem, they are attacking the person they are arguing against, instead of what they are saying.
The term comes from the Latin word homo, which means human. Hominem is a gender neutral version of the word homo. In ancient Rome it referred to all free men, or in other words, all free human beings.
Ad hominem can be a way to use reputation, rumors and hearsay to change the minds of other people listening. When a social network has already excluded or exiled one person, or applied a negative label to them, this can work more often.
It is most of the time considered to be a weak and poor argument. In courts and in diplomacy ad hominems are not appreciated.
Ad hominems are not wrong every time. For example, when people think that someone can't be trusted, things that they have said previously can be doubted.
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
One very important thing to keep in mind is that focusing on the person is not always defective reasoning. It is only a fallacy whenever focusing on the person is totally irrelevant to the issue at hand. For example, if a person is applying for a job that demands honesty, then mentioning a criminal record involving theft is not ad hominem, because honesty is indeed very relevant to his job.
However, if the person is as a boxer, bringing up his honesty would be totally irrelevant, since the job he is applying for doesn't require a clean record in the honesty department. In fact, there are ex cons who learn to box in prison, and their criminal records are irrelevant. What counts is there boxing skills,
So all we need to do to stay clear of committing this fallacy is to make absolutely sure that we are not mentioning something about the person that is totally irrelevant to the issue under discussion. Below is a video that elaborates on this subject,
However, if the person is as a boxer, bringing up his honesty would be totally irrelevant, since the job he is applying for doesn't require a clean record in the honesty department. In fact, there are ex cons who learn to box in prison, and their criminal records are irrelevant. What counts is there boxing skills,
So all we need to do to stay clear of committing this fallacy is to make absolutely sure that we are not mentioning something about the person that is totally irrelevant to the issue under discussion. Below is a video that elaborates on this subject,