Explain What an "Ad Hominem Attack" Is and Why Strong

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The Answer is The short response is that arguments are to be judged on their own merits, not on the merits of their producers. To amplify that, it is simply false to assume that because the person making the argument is deficient in some real or imagined way, the person's argument, work product, or views should not be accepted on their own merits. Ad hominem is Latin for "against the person" and it expresses the error this fallacy makes, which is to claim that a person's ideas must be tainted because the person has some vice or flaw. The opposite would be equally fallacious, which is to assume that because the person making the argument is virtuous the argument must be good, too. Strong critical thinking no more obliges us to reject every argument made by a convicted felon or an intentionally incendiary radio talk-show host than to accept every argument made by a beneficent Pope or a peace loving Dalai Lama.

Explain What an "Ad Hominem Attack" Is and Why Strong

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