Definition of Ad Hominem Argument

The ad hominem argument, literally "against the person", is one of the most common fallacies and consists of disqualifying the interlocutor with some personal attack and not attending to her reasoning.

With the intention of defending some ideas, it is very common for people to exchange positions and points of view as if it were a competition dialectics. As a general rule, we all want to be right and to achieve this we use some strategy to dismantle our opponent's arguments.

There are arguments that have a valid structure, such as those of the deductive type (a reasoning is deductive when conclusion depends on the validity of the premises) or inductive (in inductive reasoning the truth of the premises allows the truth of the conclusion to have a certain degree of probability). However, there are ways of reasoning that have a tricky dimension and are known as fallacious arguments or fallacies.

From this position, it seeks to detract from an argument through the personal disqualification of the individual who supports it. The tricky dimension of the ad hominem attack is evident: instead of focusing criticism on the

thesis defended by the interlocutor opts for individual attack.

An illustrative example

In a debate Two deputies argue about the unemployment problem. Congressman X maintains that the unemployment It could be solved by betting on public employment and Deputy Y affirms that such a position cannot be defended by Deputy X because his children are unemployed and, therefore, his analysis of unemployment lacks basis. This attack on the person constitutes a fallacy because someone's family situation does not prevent his ideas from being valid.

Distinguish, on the other hand, that these types of personal attacks also disqualify the person who uses them to argue her point of view.

The fallacy ad ignorantiam is often used to defend the existence of God and to defend the opposite idea

In addition to the ad hominem argument, there are others that are based on some logical inconsistency, such as the ad ignorantiam fallacy. This argument is intended to reach a conclusion that cannot be denied or refuted. Thus, there are people who affirm that God exists because it is not possible to prove that he does not exist.

There are also people who resort to this fallacious argumentative approach to demonstrate the opposite thesis, that is, that God does not exist because it is not possible to prove the existence of him.

Photo Fotolia: Elena Abrazhevich

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