8.1: Ad Hominem Fallacy
- Page ID
- 21999
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)If you venture to disagree with some people about any matter of religion or politics, they will be on your back like a rooster on a tater bug. They'll scratch at you any way they can; call you names; humiliate you; and attack you with an ad hominem fallacy.
Suppose a soccer player is trying to convince somebody that black-and-white soccer balls are easier to see at dusk than red-and-yellow balls, when a third person butts in and says, "Who are you to talk about good and bad soccer balls? You’ve been thrown out of more soccer games for rules violations than anyone else on the team, and you still owe me five bucks for last season's team trophy." The person who is butting in commits the ad hominem fallacy: attacking an argument by pointing out some irrelevant characteristic of the reasoner rather than by pointing out some error in the reasoning itself. Purposefully using the ad hominem fallacy is a kind of smear tactic. The way to avoid committing this fallacy is to concentrate on the reasons, not on the reasoner.
The ad hominem fallacy has 3the logical form “The argument is made by a person who has a bad trait, so the argument is faulty.” Most arguments of this ad hominem form are faulty, but some are fine provided having the mentioned trait is relevant to the argument quality. For example, if the trait is that the arguer is well known to have lied several times on this very topic, then the trait is relevant, and the person’s conclusion isn’t to be trusted for the reasons given. Relevance is not about logical form, but about the content or details of the argument.
Which of the following brief arguments are examples of the ad hominem fallacy?
a. Buy Cheerios; it's the breakfast of champions.
b. Don't buy Cheerios. They're too expensive.
c. Don't listen to Andy's argument for buying Cheerios. He's admitted the reasons behind his concluding that they aren't worth buying or eating, and those reasons really do not support his conclusion.
d. I believe that Cheerios cost less, and all Emilio's numbers and figures about how relatively expensive the cereal is are not convincing, because he's some sort of politician.
- Answer
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Answer (d). Only in (d) does the reasoner reject someone's argument by pointing out irrelevant characteristics of the arguer. Answer (c) gives an argument that might appear to attack the arguer, but notice that the attack is on the arguer's reasons and really not on the arguer.
Ad hominems are not always so obvious. Frustrated by a doctor's warnings against smoking, a patient might strike back by saying, "Who are you to talk? You smoke." Has the patient committed an ad hominem fallacy? This is a difficult question. At first sight, you might be apt to say something like this: "Yes, the doctor might be a hypocrite, or a victim of weakness of the will, but the patient's complaint is irrelevant to whether or not the doctor's reasons against smoking are good reasons. “Do as I say, not as I do,” is what the doctor is suggesting. Therefore, the patient has committed an ad hominem fallacy. But on second thought, the patient has a point. It is well known that you often can learn more about what people really believe by observing how they act than by listening to what they spout off about. It could be argued reasonably that if the doctor really believed what he says about smoking, he would follow his own advice. Because he doesn't follow his own advice, it is reasonable to conclude that the advice should not be followed unless other authorities can be found to back up the advice. If the patient had never heard anything negative about smoking except for what this doctor has said, the patient would be acting properly in hesitating to follow the advice. So, the reasoning does not commit the ad hominem fallacy.