Ad Hominem Arguments

In the media, in the courtroom, and in everyday confrontation, ad hominem arguments are easy to put forward as accusations, are difficult to refute, and often have an extremely powerful effect on persuading an audience. Although ad hominem arguments have been around for a long time, now more than ever, the problem of how to deal with them in a critically balanced way is a matter of concern for public discourse in a democracy.

Douglas Walton presents a clear account of the structure of the ad hominem argument and how that structure can be used to evaluate specific cases of this type of argumentation as fallacious or not.

An important feature of the book is the use of case studies illustrating familiar arguments in everyday conversation for which the charge of fallaciousness is at issue. The numerous case studies show in concrete terms many practical techniques for using textual evidence to identify and analyze fallacies and to evaluate argumentation as fallacious or not in particular cases.

Walton gives a clear, user-friendly method for analyzing and evaluating cases of ad hominem arguments found in everyday argumentation.