Such a principled disregard of ad hominem evidence is a characteristically modern prejudice of professional philosophers. For most Greek and Roman thinkers from Plato to Augustine, theorizing was but one mode of living life philosophically. To Socrates and the countless classical philosophers who tried to follow in his footsteps, the primary point was not to ratify a certain set of propositions (even when the ability to define terms and analyze arguments was a constitutive component of a school's teaching), but rather to explore 'the kind of person, the sort of self' that one could elaborate as a result of taking the quest for wisdom seriously.

~ James Miller

James Miller Ad Hominem Wisdom

As for the majority, it is not so much race as it is political affiliation that really divides it today. What was once an issue of physical difference is now one of intellectual difference. Men have yet to master disagreeing without flashing all their frustrations that come with it; the conservative will throw half-truths while the liberal will throw insults. Combine these and what do you get? A dishonest mockery of a country.

~ Criss Jami

Criss Jami Ad Hominem Anger Arguing Character Conservative Culture Debate Deceit Democrat Disagreement Disrespect Division Fallacies Forgiveness Frustration Gossip Grace Hate Hypocrisy Immaturity Insults Intellectual Intolerance Libel Liberal Lies Love Majority Media Mercy Minority Mockery Morality News Party Patience Political Politicism Politics Propaganda Race Racial Racism Religion Religious Republican Respect Separation Slander Society Straw Men Tolerance

Intellect is the virtue of ignoring one’s emotions’ attempt to contaminate one’s opinions.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Mokokoma Mokhonoana Ad Hominem Argument Debate Emotions Intellect Intellectual Logic Reason Reasoning

Indeed, not all attacks—especially the bitter and ridiculing kind leveled at Darwin—are offered in good faith, but for practical purposes it is good policy to assume that they are.

~ Hans Selye

Hans Selye Ad Hominem Attacks Biology Charles Darwin Darwin Darwinism Evolution Good Faith Natural Selection Ridicule Science

It neither kills outright nor inflicts apparent physical harm, yet the extent of its destructive toll is already greater than that of any war, plague, famine, or natural calamity on record - and its potential damage to the quality of human life and the fabric of civilized society is beyond calculation. For that reason this sickness of the soul might well be called the 'Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse.' Its more conventional name, of course, is dehumanization.

~ Ashley Montagu

Ashley Montagu Ad Hominem Harm Racism

Some lurid things have been said about me—that I am a racist, a hopeless alcoholic, a closet homosexual and so forth—that I leave to others to decide the truth of. I'd only point out, though, that if true these accusations must also have been true when I was still on the correct side, and that such shocking deformities didn't seem to count for so much then. Arguing with the Stalinist mentality for more than three decades now, and doing a bit of soapboxing and street-corner speaking on and off, has meant that it takes quite a lot to hurt my tender feelings, or bruise my milk-white skin.

~ Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens Ad Hominem Alcoholism Alexander Cockburn Closeted Edward Said Homosexuality Insults Iraq War Racism Stalinism War On Terror

Treating Abuse Today 3(4) pp. 26-33TAT: No. I don't know anymore than you know they're not. But, I'm talking about boundaries and privacy here. As a therapist working with survivors, I have been harassed by people who claim to be affiliated with the false memory movement. Parents and other family members have called or written me insisting on talking with me about my patients' cases, despite my clearly indicating I can't because of professional confidentiality. I have had other parents and family members investigate me -- look into my professional background -- hoping to find something to discredit me to the patients I was seeing at the time because they disputed their memories. This isn't the kind of sober, scientific discourse you all claim you want.

~ David L. Calof

David L. Calof Abuse Abuse Deniers Ad Hominem Anti Science Boundaries Boundary Violations Confidentiality False Memories False Memory False Memory Syndrome False Memory Syndrome Foundation Fmsf Harassment Interview Intimidation Intrusive Pamela Freyd Parental Abuse Pedophilia Privacy Problems Private Investigator Pseudo Science Pseudoscience Pseudoscientific Psychological Abuse Psychotherapist Repressed Memory Scam Society Denial Survivors Of Abuse Violation Leading To Disruption

I had become too accustomed to the pseudo-Left new style, whereby if your opponent thought he had identified your lowest possible motive, he was quite certain that he had isolated the only real one. This vulgar method, which is now the norm and the standard in much non-Left journalism as well, is designed to have the effect of making any noisy moron into a master analyst.

~ Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens Ad Hominem Argumentation Fallacy Journalism Leftism