No. 02 Attack Fallacies argumentum ad hominem
Ad Hominem
In Turkish: Adam Karalama Safsatası
You couldn’t answer what I said, so you went for me instead. Noticed.
This bridge is rated for five tons. Don’t take the tea truck over it.
You learned to drive a tractor last year. What do you know about bridges?
Dursun isn’t saying it, Temel. The sign is.
What is it?
Attacking the person making the claim instead of the claim. Even if what you say about the person is true, it says nothing about whether the claim is.
The pattern
- A: “X.”
- B: “A is such-and-such a person.” (ignorant, biased, odd, young, fat…)
- B: “So X is false.”
Why it fails
Claims stand on their own. Unpleasant people say true things; pleasant people say false ones. Attacking the person changes the subject: it tells the audience “don’t listen to this” without saying why. Which is why it’s the favourite move of people who have no answer.
How to spot it
- The reply is about the person, not the claim: who they are, what they’ve done, how they look.
- Stock phrases: “who are you to”, “someone like you”, “what would you know”.
- Even if the personal remark is true, it does nothing to the claim.
What to say
“Never mind who I am. Is what I said true or not? If it’s true, why; if it’s false, why?” The moment you defend yourself personally, the subject is you. Pull it back to the claim, repeat the claim, wait.
When it’s not a fallacy
When someone’s reliability is the question, talking about them is fair: a witness with a record of lying, an expert with a conflict of interest, an authority speaking outside their field. Even then the conclusion is “this source isn’t enough, we need other evidence”, not “so it’s false”.
Examples
- FamilyTo the sibling who says “let’s not buy the car on credit, the interest is brutal”: “You’ve never bought a car in your life, be quiet.”
- WorkThe intern found an error in the report. Reply: “Two weeks here, what would they know?” The error is still there.
- Social mediaUnder “this recipe has too much salt”: “I looked at your profile picture. Who are you to comment?”
- HealthThe doctor said “lose some weight and your knee will thank you”. Waiting room verdict: “He’s got a belly himself, what does he know.”