Net Llama! wrote:
On 09/11/2005 07:27 PM, Jerry McBride wrote:
[snip silly name calling and meaningless facts to support name calling]
Does anyone know what "ad hominem" means?
Has anyone taken a philosophy class in logic? You remember, the class
where you needed to relate conclusions to premises. Where you needed to
provide premises that withstood scrutiny. That way you could present a
valid, sound argument.
Here is a brief reminder, ad hominem attacks are where you attack
someone personally instead of addressing specific questions or issues.
The general purpose is to discredit someone without actually addressing
the point. Best used when you don't have a tenable position yourself.
Shakespeare used it well in "Julius Caesar", Demosthenes is the first
recorded use of the technique.
I am well aware that King George and Slick Willie are perfect candidates
for this type of stuff, but it sure doesn't help the level of discourse
to bring it up. For the record, Democrats don't care any more about
Clinton being a slut than the Republicans care about Bush being an
idiot. That said, can we either discus the topic in question, or drop it?
-- Alma
_______________________________________________
[email protected]
Unsub/Pause/Etc : http://mail.linux-sxs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/general
