[MD] Social Intellectual

[Mary]

On Behalf Of X Acto
> Sent: Friday, July 23, 2010 10:47 PM

[Directed to Marsha]
> 
> I'm wise enough to know you're a douchebag


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

Which kind of Ad hominem attack is this?  Is it:

A) Ad hominem abusive
Ad hominem abusive usually involves insulting or belittling one's opponent
in order to invalidate their argument, but can also involve pointing out
factual but ostensible character flaws or actions which are irrelevant to
the opponent's argument. This tactic is logically fallacious because insults
and even true negative facts about the opponent's personal character have
nothing to do with the logical merits of the opponent's arguments or
assertions.

B) Ad hominem circumstantial
Ad hominem circumstantial points out that someone is in circumstances such
that he is disposed to take a particular position. Ad hominem circumstantial
constitutes an attack on the bias of a source. This is fallacious because a
disposition to make a certain argument does not make the argument false;
this overlaps with the genetic fallacy (an argument that a claim is
incorrect due to its source).  Where the source taking a position seeks to
convince us by a claim of authority, or personal observation, observation of
their circumstances may reduce the evidentiary weight of the claims,
sometimes to zero.[4]

C) Ad hominem tu quoque
Ad hominem tu quoque (lit: "You too!") refers to a claim that the source
making the argument has spoken or acted in a way inconsistent with the
argument. In particular, if Source A criticizes the actions of Source B, a
tu quoque response is that Source A has acted in the same way. This argument
is fallacious because it does not disprove the argument; if the premise is
true then Source A may be a hypocrite, but this does not make the statement
less credible from a logical perspective. Indeed, Source A may be in a
position to provide personal testimony on the negative consequences of the
stated action.

I'm leaning toward C.

Best,
Mary

> -----Original Message-----
> From: moq_discuss-bounces at lists.moqtalk.org [mailto:moq_discuss-
> bounces at lists.moqtalk.org] On Behalf Of X Acto
> Sent: Friday, July 23, 2010 10:47 PM
> To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
> Subject: Re: [MD] Social Intellectual
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Marsha:
> I'm not enlightened, but I am wise enough to know I don't know.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm wise enough to know you're a douchebag
> 
> in my relative truth opion
> 
> 
> ___
> 
>