This sort of
"reasoning" involves trying to discredit what a person might later
claim by presenting unfavorable information (be it true or false) about the person.
This "argument" has the following form:
- Unfavorable information (be it true or false) about person A is presented.
- Therefore any claims person A makes will be false.
This sort of "reasoning" is obviously fallacious.
The person making such an attack is hoping that the unfavorable information
will bias listeners against the person in question and hence that they will
reject any claims he might make. However, merely presenting unfavorable
information about a person (even if it is true) hardly counts as evidence
against the claims he/she might make. This
is especially clear when “Poisoning the Well” is looked at as a form of ad Homimem in which
the attack is made prior to the person even making the claim or claims. The
following example clearly shows that this sort of "reasoning" is
quite poor.
Hence another example: Translated from Latin to English,
"Ad Hominem" means "against the man" or
"against the person."
An Ad Hominem is a general category of fallacies
in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact
about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically,
this fallacy involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of
person making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or
the character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim).
Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument the
person in question is making (or presenting). This type of "argument"
has the following form:
- Person A makes claim X.
- Person B makes an attack on person A.
- Therefore A's claim is false
The reason why an Ad Hominem (of any kind) is a fallacy is
that the character, circumstances, or actions of a person do not (in most
cases) have a bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made (or the
quality of the argument being made).
Start thinking on your own ~ do your own fact finding or use
credible resources to do so~ taking a politician’s word or those unelected
bureaucrat’s messages at full face value is foolish and often misleading of the
matter at hand.
Arizona people are smart and articulate. They are educated
and realize their contributions to this state is what makes this one of few
that has developed into a paradise for many to come here and forget those
things they ran away from ~ don’t let local politicians snare you into their
way of thinking and give them free reign with their own mandates and policy
making. Source:
