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A couple days ago we had a discussion about the non-fallacious sense of ad hominem<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 As recent research has shown (decisively, I think), fallacious forms of argument schemes exist along side non-fallacious ones.\u00c2\u00a0 Attacking the person isn’t ipso facto impermissible, because sometimes people who argue are bad and that fact bears on their argument.<\/p>\n Here’s another fun example pulled from Twitter.\u00c2\u00a0 A Catholic hospital in Denver has been sued for malpractice involving the death of a mother and one of her twin fetuses.\u00c2\u00a0 Their defense<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0 Well:<\/p>\n As Jason Langley, an attorney with Denver-based Kennedy Childs, argued in one of the briefs he filed for the defense, the court \u00e2\u20ac\u0153should not overturn the long-standing rule in Colorado that the term \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcperson,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as is used in the Wrongful Death Act, encompasses only individuals born alive. Colorado state courts define \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcperson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 under the Act to include only those born alive. Therefore Plaintiffs cannot maintain wrongful death claims based on two unborn fetuses<\/strong>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Please consider the usual caveats about legal cases and legal reporting and let’s say for the sake of argument that this is the Catholic hospital’s view (but don’t let this stop you from commenting on them should you want to).\u00c2\u00a0 It seems like we’d have reasonable grounds for saying: how inconsistent this argument is with your long-standing views!\u00c2\u00a0 In fact (from the same source):<\/p>\n The lead defendant in the case is Catholic Health Initiatives, the Englewood-based nonprofit that runs St. Thomas More Hospital as well as roughly 170 other health facilities in 17 states. Last year, the hospital chain reported national assets of $15 billion. The organization\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mission, according to its promotional literature, is to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nurture the healing ministry of the Church\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and to be guided by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fidelity to the Gospel.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Toward those ends, Catholic Health facilities seek to follow the Ethical and Religious Directives of the Catholic Church authored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Those rules have stirred controversy for decades, mainly for forbidding non-natural birth control and abortions. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Catholic health care ministry witnesses to the sanctity of life \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcfrom the moment of conception until death,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the directives state. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Church\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s defense of life encompasses the unborn<\/strong>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So here we have probably (again for the sake of argument) perfectly reasonable interpretation of the Wrongful Death Act.\u00c2\u00a0 But it is exactly the opposite of the views of the institution which is making the argument.\u00c2\u00a0 This inconsistency\u00c2\u00a0has (justifiably) occasioned the\u00c2\u00a0non-fallacious tu quoque\u00c2\u00a0charge.\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine had the plaintiff making the argument been represented by Planned Parenthoood.\u00c2\u00a0 Nonetheless,\u00c2\u00a0I think this\u00c2\u00a0illustrates a critical issue about ad hominems,\u00c2\u00a0namely:\u00c2\u00a0it is\u00c2\u00a0impossible to entertain this argument in isolation from the other commitments–even those not currently\u00c2\u00a0up for discussion–of the arguer.<\/p>\n *having “your face like your ass” (la faccia\u00c2\u00a0come il culo): (roughly) not ashamed of anything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A couple days ago we had a discussion about the non-fallacious sense of ad hominem.\u00c2\u00a0 As recent research has shown (decisively, I think), fallacious forms of argument schemes exist along side non-fallacious ones.\u00c2\u00a0 Attacking the person isn’t ipso facto impermissible, because sometimes people who argue are bad and that fact bears on their argument. Here’s … Continue reading Having a face like their ass*<\/span>