We know you know what an ad hominem is, and now you know that we know that you know. Also, we know what an ad hominem is. But in any discussion, people will say things like "Oh, come on , you know that's stupid", or "Don't be a fool", etc.
When they do this, they are not trying to lower the acceptability of your argument by attacking you; instead, they saying that they disagree with what you just said. They will usually proceed by telling you what exactly they think is wrong with your argument.
This was not a personal attack, and you should be able to recognise that; so there's not much point in shouting "Ad-hom!" at every instance of good-natured/conversational name-calling. If you take it seriously and you object to being called names, then you might as well say so outright. |
