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Category Archives: Ad Hominem Abusive
Sometimes ad hominem is warranted
Phil Plait’s got a serious take-down of the recent claim that there’s been a meteorite found that has diatom fossils in it (at Salon). Plait’s case is along a few lines: (1) that the rock doesn’t look like it’s a … Continue reading →
Posted in Ad Hominem, Ad Hominem Abusive, Argument Analysis
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Tagged Ad Hominem, meteorites
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10 Comments
Ad rockstarium
I think it's worthwhile to keep track of the ways the sides in a debate try to paint the character of the other. Sometimes, it is simple observations about what kind of person would hold such and such a view, … Continue reading →
Posted in Ad Hominem, Ad Hominem Abusive, Appeal to the People, Barack Obama
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Tagged Ad Rockstarium, Barack Obama, Mark Steyn, Presidential Politics
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10 Comments
Adoption is a beautiful choice
Busy lately, so outsourcing to Think Progress. Here's Dr.Keith Ablow on David Brock, former right-winger and founder of Media Matters: ABLOW: He’s a dangerous man, because having followers and waging war… this isn’t accidental language. It’s about violence, destruction, and … Continue reading →
Posted in Ad Hominem Abusive
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Tagged Ad hominem arguments, David Brock, Dr.Keith Ablow, Media Matters
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Everyone ’round here loves the ad populum!
Quin Hillyer, over at the American Spectator, is running the "We don't cotton to his kind" argument about President Obama's policies and style of governance. Hillyer has recently moved to Mobile, Alabama after years in Washington, D.C. He's now writing … Continue reading →
Posted in Ad Hominem Abusive, Appeal to the People
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Tagged Ad Populum, argumentum ad populum (fallacious kind), Quin Hillyer
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1 Comment
Ad hominems and drawing conclusions about character
Ad hominem abusive fallacies are fallacies of relevance. The basic scheme for the fallacy type is: P1: S holds that p P2: S has some vice, X C1: Therefore, p is false (or unacceptable). With my informal logic classes, I … Continue reading →
How not to defend yourself (gnu atheist style!)
For those of you who don't know, Rob Talisse and I have been posting about atheism and argumentative civility over at 3QuarksDaily. First, here; the follow up here. Our book, Reasonable Atheism is on the shelves now, too. In the … Continue reading →
Posted in Ad Hominem, Ad Hominem Abusive, General discussion
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Tagged ad hominem abusive, Gnu Atheists, New Atheists
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18 Comments
What about quests?
So Bill O'Reilly, cable TV blowhard hardly worth commenting on, has advanced the argumentum ad aestum (ex aesto? ab aesto?–ideas anyone), or the argument from the tides, for the existence of God. The thought goes something like this: O'REILLY: I'll … Continue reading →
He forgot to mention that he is fat
We got twenty feet of snow around here, complete with thundersnow, so what better day could there be for a global warming post. "Al Gore is fat" is shorthand for all of the ad hominem (meanie-meanie-bo-beanie variety) that people have … Continue reading →
Someone to agree with me
I wish I had a flattering one-idea explanation for the outcome of Tuesday's election, where Republicans took a majority in the house, and made gains in, but did not take, the Senate (weren't they supposed to do that?). But I know such … Continue reading →
Posted in Ad Hominem Abusive, George Will, hollow man, Straw Man, Unqualified Authority
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Tagged Don Boudreaux, George Will, hollow man, Straw Man
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Facts and science and argument
The first rule of American political discourse is that you cannot mention the inanity of American political discourse. Here is Obama: "Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does … Continue reading →
