Re:The sun's magnetic field is about to flip
by sneak on Friday June 14, 2024 @03:27PM
(#40684130)
causality0 was making statements about his credentials and expertise, not his personal characteristics. I think ad hominem definitionally has to be irrelevant. “x knows nothing about topic y” is not ad hominem even if it is a false statement.
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Re:The sun's magnetic field is about to flip
by contravariant on Friday June 14, 2024 @04:05PM
(#40684544)
People really ought to learn that pointing out a fallacy doesn't suddenly make it false. I mean I could point out that that is known as the fallacy fallacy, but then I'd be doing the same thing myself.
Really a fallacy represents a particular weak argument. The way to defeat them is not to name the correct fallacy but to point out the weakness.
If that doesn't work then you likely have the wrong fallacy, or the argument isn't fallacious to begin with.
Re:The sun's magnetic field is about to flip
by panopticon on Friday June 14, 2024 @07:50PM
(#40686278)
An ad hominem doesn't have to be irrelevant; it just means that the argument is about the person rather than the position. Attempting to dismiss an argument due to the person's credentials instead of their position is 100% an ad hominem.
But like contravariant said, that doesn't mean the argument is wrong—just that it's a weak argument.