Ad hominem: the workhorse of political correctness

Ad hominem arguments are very often deployed, deviously, when people are offended or in other ways disturbed by an argument, but cannot muster any substantive counter-arguments. The person is often offended precisely because the argument is true and they know it to be so. This type of response therefore constitutes both “shooting the messenger” and denial.

Ad hominem arguments are the very workhorse of political correctness, so it wise for us all to be able to recognise and expose them. To this effect there is a clear explanation on the Wikipedia web site.

Those who deploy ad hominem arguments should be ashamed of themselves. Another type of argument that has to be watched is the reverse of ad hominem arguments: the appeal to authority. While less dangerous (because of peer consensus), the inductive appeal to authority is still ultimately a logical fallacy – that is to say, just because someone has been right in the past, that does not necessarily mean they are right in this instance.

The conclusion, then, is that arguments must be taken on their own merits, regardless of whether we happen to like either what they state or who is doing the stating.