Ad Hominem

Description of Ad Hominem

Translated from Latin to English, "Ad Hominem" means "against the man" or "against the person."

An Ad Hominem is a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this fallacy involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of person making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or the character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim). Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument the person in question is making (or presenting). This type of "argument" has the following form:

 

1. Person A makes claim X.
2. Person B makes an attack on person A.
3. Therefore A's claim is false.

The reason why an Ad Hominem (of any kind) is a fallacy is that the character, circumstances, or actions of a person do not (in most cases) have a bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made (or the quality of the argument being made).

Example of Ad Hominem

 

1. Bill: "I believe that abortion is morally wrong."
   Dave: "Of course you would say that, you're a priest."
   Bill: "What about the arguments I gave to support my position?"
   Dave: "Those don't count. Like I said, you're a priest, so you have to say that abortion is wrong. Further, you are just a lackey to the Pope, so I can't believe what you say."

I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do.—D. Dale Gulledge

Articles discussing Watchtower and Ad Hominem:

Can Neo-Watchtower Apologists Live Their Religion?
This is a good article showing the Ad Hominem approach used by Watchtower apologists.

The Watchtower Society and Medical Quackery
... Its attacks are generally ad hominem. ... The Watchtower Society condemned the use
of drugs for the most part from Aspirin to Morphine until fairly recently. ...

The Demonizing of Former Members
... In this same article, the Watchtower writers even provide a sample of this type of
ad hominem attack: Certainly, the handiest trick of the propagandist is the ...

Questions For Those Who Accept the Society's Position
... Why does the society use ad hominem arguments and analogies like the one about ... If
the Watchtower Society changed its mind about blood transfusions, as it has ...

Are Jehovah's Witnesses God's Chosen?
... Christians on earth until the 1870s, when the Watchtower Society's founder ... certainly
contain much personal invective, consist largely of ad hominem attacks and ...

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