Question

...
Geoff zinkan

Is an ad hom only personal

I’m in a discussion where a tweet was posted making a claim. In the discussion I copied and pasted a counter argument from a fact check site. People immediately attacked the fact check site and not the counter argument that was presented. I called this an ad hom. They said it wasn’t because they weren’t criticizing my personal character. My response was to think of me as a nuetral observer, I wasn’t making the argument the fact check site was. Who is correct here?
asked on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2018 08:45:33 PM by Geoff zinkan

Top Categories Suggested by Community

Comments

Want to get notified of all questions as they are asked? Update your mail preferences and turn on "Instant Notification."

Reason: Books I & II

This book is based on the first five years of The Dr. Bo Show, where Bo takes a critical thinking-, reason-, and science-based approach to issues that matter with the goal of educating and entertaining. Every chapter in the book explores a different aspect of reason by using a real-world issue or example.

Part one is about how science works even when the public thinks it doesn't. Part two will certainly ruffle some feathers by offering a reason- and science-based perspective on issues where political correctness has gone awry. Part three provides some data-driven advice for your health and well-being. Part four looks at human behavior and how we can better navigate our social worlds. In part five we put on our skeptical goggles and critically examine a few commonly-held beliefs. In the final section, we look at a few ways how we all can make the world a better place.

Get 20% off this book and all Bo's books*. Use the promotion code: websiteusers

* This is for the author's bookstore only. Applies to autographed hardcover, audiobook, and ebook.

Get the Book

Answers

...
mchasewalker
0
Geoff, I encourage you to look up Dr. Bo's exhaustive list of Ad hominem arguments. It is clear that it is one of the go-to logical fallacies for the ill-informed, but you'll be awed by the variations the often cliché argument takes in its myriad forms.
answered on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2018 09:26:15 PM by mchasewalker

Comments

...
Abdulazeez
0
Yes, an ad hom is ONLY personal and directed towards the person making the claim. The phrase "Ad Hominem" itself means "to the man." What those people committed was not an ad hom, but it could very well be the genetic fallacy (asserting the argument is false by criticizing the source of the argument without dealing with the argument itself): https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/99/Genetic-Fallacy<>
However, it is important to understand the nuances of dealing with sources of arguments and when it is fallacious and when it is not, so I recommend checking this short article by Dr. Bo to understand that difference:
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/bg/Bo/LogicalFallacies/8HVUvaOF/The-Gentetic-Fallacy-and-Probability<>
answered on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2018 11:38:27 PM by Abdulazeez

Comments