![]() The first step is to discredit the speaker/presenter/sponsor, and the second step is to imply that because the speaker/presenter/sponsor is a “bad” person, the issue or cause must be bad as well (“Introduction to Ad Hominem Fallacies”).įor example, prior to the last local election, I attended a debate between two city council candidates regarding a public school bond measure. ![]() The soundest ad hominem attacks are made up of two steps. The use of the ad hominem indicates that an argument (or counter-argument) is focusing not on the issue or cause, but on the issue’s presenter, and it generally takes the form of a personal attack of the presenter’s character (“Introduction to Ad Hominem Fallacies”). It is one of several logical fallacies that may appear (intentionally or otherwise) in the rhetorical mode of writing or speaking known as Argument. The term “ad hominem” is a Latin phrase that translates to “against the man” (“Ad hominem”).
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