Ad hominem

Ad hominem, type of argument or attack that appeals to prejudice or feelings or irrelevantly impugns another person’s character instead of addressing the facts or claims made by the latter.

Ad hominem arguments are often taught to be a type of fallacy, an erroneous form of argumentation, although this is not necessarily the case. A number of scholars have noted that questioning a person’s character is a fallacy only insofar as the person’s character is not logically relevant to the debate. Indeed, philosophy textbooks often list ad hominem arguments as a type of informal fallacy but add the important proviso that the person must be attacked “irrelevantly.” For example, a scientist may reject a colleague’s argument because of the latter’s taste in music or hairstyle. These idiosyncratic and subjective traits are in no way related to the truthfulness of the colleague’s argument, and attacking the person rather than the substance of their argument would be a clear instance of the ad hominem fallacy. However, courts do commonly take into account the character of a witness, and questioning the statements of a chronic liar would not be fallacious since it logically relates to the possibility of their speech being itself a lie.

Scholars generally recognize five subcategories of ad hominem arguments:

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• abusive

  • The abusive type refers to a direct attack on a person, in which one calls for an argument to be rejected because the person making it is dishonest, immoral, or compromised in some other respect.
• circumstantial

  • The circumstantial type involves questioning some inconsistency between the person making the argument and the argument itself. Often, a circumstantial ad hominem argument is intended to criticize the apparent hypocrisy of the person making the argument. For example, a child might reject their parents’ argument that tobacco consumption is unhealthy on the grounds that they are tobacco smokers.
• bias

  • The bias type involves questioning the validity of someone’s argument on the basis of some perceived bias, whether it is purely ideological or materially motivated. For example, someone may claim that a speech made by a CEO against indexing the minimum wage to the cost of living should be rejected since the former is biased as a result of their wealth and the interests inherent to their social position.
• “poisoning the well”

  • Closely related to the bias type, the “poisoning the well” type involves arguing that the person is so partisan or dogmatically inclined to hold certain positions that they can never be trusted to reason impartially on the basis on facts and logic.
• tu quoque (“you too”)

  • The tu quoque type involves responding in kind to an accusation of wrongdoing. For instance, someone caught in a lie might respond by uncovering some previous lie by the accuser in an attempt to discredit them, thereby sidestepping the merits of the accusation.

The idea that ad hominem arguments can be legitimately raised in the case of testimonies is generally recognized. Some scholars argue that ad hominem arguments can also be legitimate when they challenge someone’s argument as being self-interested or driven by a dogmatic bias (such as in the bias and “poisoning the well” types), but this view is contested since it relies on a subjective assessment of inner motives. For instance, an environmentalist might argue in favour of reducing the use of carbon-emitting energy sources. Insofar as the environmentalist is grounding their position in facts and logic, it would be fallacious to dismiss such an argument on the sole basis of the person’s deep preexisting commitment to environmental protection. In some respect, scholarly debates about the possibility of non-fallacious use of ad hominem arguments revolve around the tension between formal logic, which is primarily concerned with the validity of statements, and rhetoric, which is primarily concerned with persuasion. Since Aristotle, scholars of rhetoric have been interested not only in the logical and substantive soundness of an argument (its logos) but also in the passions raised by the speech or text (the pathos) as well as the character of the person making the argument (their ethos).

The use of ad hominem attacks is a common feature of modern politics, particularly in campaign advertising. One reason for the popularity of ad hominem arguments in politics is simply their effectiveness. Ad hominem accusations are easy to deploy against a political opponent. They can persuade an audience to dismiss an argument without the need to respond to its underlying facts or reasoning and can diminish the opponent’s credibility, making it difficult for the person being attacked to effectively reply. Furthermore, an ad hominem attack can have a long-lasting impact since it can tarnish the overall reputation of the opponent rather than their campaign ideas.