Zac Alstin…

May 14, 2012 By 2 Comments

tackles the problem of the ad hominem fallacy.

The problem is this: “Joe’s wrong because he’s ugly” is a worthless ad hominem, but “Joe’s wrong because he’s a stupid bigot” *might* be fallacious, but it might also have some merit since a pattern of stupid bigotry can, in fact, alter and even destroy Joe’s thinking and argumentation about the object of his bigotry. This is why a wise man does not credit David Duke on the subject of race relations or turn to Hitler for insights on the Jews.

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  • ivan_the_mad

    Well worth the read.

  • Ted Seeber

    I was just listening to Chesterton on the subject of “the Jewish problem”, from _The New Jerusalem_ librivox this morning- and suddenly I understand Hitler’s real problem with the Jews and the Catholics is the same as Obama’s problem with the Catholics. Not so much bigotry and hatred, as being beholden to an idea beyond the vision and paradigm of the leader.