Ad hominem arguments try to discredit a claim or proposal by attacking its proponents instead of providing a reasoned examination of the proposal itself. Hence, "ad hominem" literally means "against the person." Ad hominem arguments come in at least five varieties, viz., abusive, guilt by association, tu quoque, vested interest and circumstantial arguments. In this paper I shall analyse the five different ad hominem arguments and argue that although the majority of ad hominem arguments …
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showed last 75 words of 1666 total
…Bibliography: Brinton, Alan, A Rhetorical View of the Ad Hominem, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 63, No. 1; March 1985. Hinman, Laurence, The Case for Ad Hominem Arguments, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 60, No. 4; December 1982. Holt, et al., Theory and Problems of Logic, Schaum's Outline Series, 1998. Monck, W. H. S., An Introduction To Logic, Dublin University Press Series, Hodges, Figgis, & Co., Grafton Street, 1890. Walton, Douglas N., Informal Logic: A Handbook For Critical Argumentation, Cambridge University Press, 1989.