PP201 Lecture Notes - Ad Hominem, Tu Quoque

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22 Aug 2014
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There are two broad categories of fallacies we are going to look at over the next couple of weeks. This week we start with the so-called fallacies of relevance. They are types of bad argumentation, in other words: genetic. This involves an attempt to refute a conclusion by discrediting the origin of its source, or genesis. This tactic is fallacious because the strength or plausibility of a claim does not depend on its proponent"s background. The fact that einstein, for example, was german is irrelevant vis-a-vis the strength of his theory of relativity. There is no possibility of this cambodian sprinter winning the 200m olympic title. His country has no history of success in this event: ad hominem. The mistake here is to attack the proponent of the argument rather than the argument itself. Details about the proponent and her motives are not strictly relevant to the truth of the argument"s conclusion.

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