Jovial Monk wrote on Apr 18
th, 2023 at 9:12am:
I DO know that you never studied science—all your non-scientific crap here and the so-called Environment board shout out your ignorance of science and scientific reasoning. That and falling for a cheap conman like Dubyne.
Read any of my Sun posts yet or are they too scientific for you, idiot?
https://www.ozpolitic.com/articles/logical-fallacies.html#ad%20hominem ad hominem
"You are an
idiot, therefore you are wrong."
An ad hominem (short for argumentum ad hominem) is a personal attack. It is by far the most common logical fallacy encountered in online forums. It carries the assumption that by discrediting your opponent, you are also discrediting their argument. However, this would lead to the absurd situation that an argument is correct if one person uses it, and false if another uses it. Inexperienced debaters often fall for this and feel the need to defend their reputation against a troll, otherwise it will invalidate the point they are trying to make in the eyes of others.
An ad hominem is not always a logical fallacy. For example, if someone claims that their point of view on a technical issue carries more weight because they are a scientist then it would be reasonable to point out that they did not complete their PhD. It would not be reasonable to point out that they are divorced, or a socialist.
Merely insulting someone is not technically an ad hominem unless it is done in a way that discredits their argument – however, it is still inappropriate.
The opposite fallacy to ad hominem is ‘appeal to authority,’ claiming that the good qualities of a person making an argument support that argument.