| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration will allow you to join in the discussion which is amazingly free of personal rancor and trolls! We are currently looking for posters from both the left and the right who have a demonstrated capacity to discuss fervently without letting personalities get in the way. Is that you? We need more staff. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Proclivity of Argumentum Ad Hominem; Why do So Many People Resort to It? | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Nov 8 2011, 06:39 PM (72 Views) | |
| Post #1 Nov 8 2011, 06:39 PM | Mike |
|
I submit the following with a hope of having a serious, thoughtful discussion. Criticizing (an idea or a statement by pointing something out about the person who holds the idea rather than directly addressing the merits of the idea) is a very common action in political forums--really in the majority of discussions political or otherwise that I have observed. This argumentum ad hominem is (more often than not) laced with a degree of invective, and rarely produces positive progress in a discussion. So why do so many people do it so often? |
Newbie
  ![]](http://z2.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)
|
 
|
 |
| Post #2 Dec 6 2011, 09:43 PM |
|
|
Yes, the main thrust of replies should be to the topic under discussion and on the arguments made. The person making the comment should not be discussed. However, there is an important distinction to be drawn. The actions of the commenter (for example, untruths he asserts, fallacies in his logic, his use of ad hominem, etc.) are worthy of mention. There is a world of difference between comments like, "You are a liar," or, "You always lie," and, "That statement is not true," or "One should not use false statements to support his argument." The former are ad hominem. The latter can be thought of as "points of order." |
Administrator
|
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · What is civility? · Next Topic » |
3:10 AM May 22