Rad Hominem

By Jacqueline Brevik and Rayna Porter

Ad Hominem - to the person

Ad Hominem is a logical fallacy in which the speaker is targeted, instead of the subject of
discussion or debate. The user of the fallacy utilizes unrelated and often irrelevant
information to weaken or strengthen the targets credibility.
Person A makes claim X
Person B makes declaration about Person A
Person A must be right/wrong about claim X
Example
Hannibal Lector is a therapist.
Will Graham claims that Hannibal Lector is a cannibal.
Therefore, Hannibal Lector must be a bad therapist.

http://joshbrahm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ad-hominem-fallacy-small.jpg

An extreme example of abusive Ad Hominem represented by two very

offended looking birds

Subtypes of Ad Hominem
Guilt By Association - a rhetorical
device that uses the speakers
association with a person or group to
define the credibility of their
argument

Circumstantial - Ad Hominem that

assumes the speakers argument is
invalid because they are biased or
predisposed

Abusive - a form of Ad Hominem that

attacks the speaker, instead of
confronting the subject itself

Tu quoque - a subtype of Ad
Hominem meaning you too, that
degrades the credibility of the
argument because what the speaker
says is contradictory to their own
actions

http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-to-follow-in-footsteps-of-hitler-stalin-with-executive-order-disarmament-of-the-american-people.html

https://brittneykennedy.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/ad-hominem-ad.png

Examples

Reflection on Ad Hominem
Ad Hominem is a logical fallacy that is used to target ethos and pathos, specifically, archetypes of human
emotion and societal opinions or ideals. In the case of the former example, an excerpt from the article
Obama to Follow In the Footsteps of Hitler, Stalin, with executive order disarmament of the American
people, the writer uses a specific type of Ad Hominem (Guilt By Association) to discredit the target
(Barack Obama). The text loosely references the fact that both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin used
disarmament in their rise to tyrannical power. Obama appears to support disarmament in America,
therefore, Obama is like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. The fallacy of such thinking is the assumption
that all facets of these infamous figures are perverse, and thus have been demonized on principle by
society as a whole. Our latter example is also a political advertisement, but defends the opposite
ideology. The advertisement itself, a campaign advertisement for Barack Obamas 2012 reelection
campaign, maligns GOP adversary Mitt Romney by asserting that he only contributes to our national
issues, as opposed to remedying them. However, the text does not support the point it attempts to convey;
it rather merely disparages Obamas opponent without evidence to support his claim. Essentially,
politicians utilize Ad Hominem incessantly to vilify their ideological enemies.

http://conceptodefinicion.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Fin.png