Steve: Ad Hominem Fallacy

By: steve-wang

Ad Hominem Fallacy is where someone attacks the person who made the argument and not the argument itself. For instance, I once did not do something I needed to and my sibling tired to tell on me. He said something like: “He forgot to mop the floor!”. Instead of attacking their argument, I attacked them (verbally). I proceeded to discredit them saying that they have tried to get others in trouble before in a similar situation. I said something like: “Don't believe him, he is always lying! Last time he lied about Tim not doing his homework but Tim had already finished it!”. Instead of addressing whether I mopped the floor, I called him a liar. This is an Ad Hominem attack. did this so that the adults would not believe them. Another example of an Ad Hominem attack is, once I was arguing with a person, to prove the other person was wrong, I accused the other person of some wrong doing. By doing this, destroying the opposing person's credibility also trying to get the opposing person to lose their temper. An Ad Hominem attack is made by attacking the person instead of the argument. Using this could nullify the opposing person's argument because Ad Hominem attacks can damage a person's credibility and influence. It might also make the opponent lose their temper which is fatal in logical arguments. In conclusion, the Ad Hominem fallacy is generally considered a logical error but it can be used to deflect opponent's arguments, undermine credibility and, distract others. It is important to learn to spot them so that we do not fall victim into any of these attacks.