About Ad Hominem:

Ad Hominem (Latin for “to the person”) is a widely used but fallacious argumentative tactic that aims to undermine the opponent by attacking their personal characteristics or circumstances instead of grappling with their actual points or arguments. This can manifest in various forms such as name-calling, questioning integrity, or outright insults. It can be a direct retort (e.g. “you’re biased”) or it can discredit the source (e.g. “she also supported Kanye.”)

The essential flaw in Ad Hominem attacks is the implicit assumption that a person’s characteristics or circumstances have a direct bearing on the validity of their arguments. This is a logical fallacy because the two are often unrelated. For example, the financial status of someone advocating for tax reform does not inherently invalidate their points about the inefficiency or fairness of the tax system.

Ad Hominem attacks are often deployed to rally support from like-minded individuals who find such personal attacks validating, and they can be quite effective at derailing meaningful debate. Over time, the repetition of Ad Hominem attacks can contribute to the polarization of opinions and the degradation of rational public discourse.

If you find yourself the target of an Ad Hominem attack, a constructive response might be to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand, asking for arguments against your points rather than against you as a person.