Rommel49 wrote...
It's worth pointing out that your use of "ad hominem" wasn't actually correct. Translated it simply means "against the man" (that's why the entire fallacy is known as argumentum ad hominem). The fallacy does not apply to every single personal attack, insult, criticism, etc. against a person. It's essentially a form of red herring; when such an attack is both irrelevant and actually used as evidence against a position. Ironically, to say that somebody shouldn't be mean or insult someone and that it somehow diminishes a point being made falls under a logical fallacy all its own; "Style over substance".
Ok, honestly, I should be used to this by now, but it seems that most of the time I try and steer debates into being more constructive what ends up happening is I get one or several people who simply do not understand why certain things are detrimental to arguments.
Here's the online definition I use -
An
ad hominem argument is any that attempts to counter anothers claims or conclusions by attacking the person, rather than addressing the argument itself. True believers will often commit this fallacy by countering the arguments of skeptics by stating that skeptics are closed minded. Skeptics, on the other hand, may fall into the trap of dismissing the claims of UFO believers, for example, by stating that people who believe in UFO's are crazy or stupid.
The ad hominem attack, most often name-calling, is not constructive because it
attempts to dismiss the person making the argument and not the person's argument.Did you know I actually said this back around page 5?MerinTB wrote...
And actually, an ad hominem isn't simply criticizing someone. It's a logical fallacy because it derails or disrupts a discussion or debate without providing anything positive. An actual definition -
Ad hominem - An ad hominem argument is any that attempts to counter anothers claims or conclusions by attacking the person, rather than addressing the argument itself.
Name-calling is the most prevalent form of ad hominem, and it is what you are doing with the constant antagonistic labeling of "fanboy."
When someone says, and I quote exactly - "
But fanboyness is a form of blindness, so paint me unsurprised if you're unable to see it." - that someone is essentially saying that anything the person labeled as
fanboy says is irrelevent because the person labeled
fanboy's argument is flawed since that person simply is a
fanboy.
Rommel49, that is a
textbook example of the ad honimen logical fallacy.
Did you even read what I was addressing initially, or did you decide to jump in and try to prove that you are more intelligent than I am? You may be more intelligent, I'm not laying claim to superior intellect here in the least, but your correction is flawed on at least a couple levels. Read what I underlined that you said, what I underlined that I said, and what I underlined that the poster I was responding to said. Exactly an ad hominem. And as for irony and style over substance -
Asking someone to
not call others names as a means to dismiss their arguments as irrelevant is not seeking style over substance but actually the opposite. Your understanding of irony seems as flawed as most people, though that last part your wrote was ironic.
Ironic because, since irony is "when the literal and actual meaning are opposite", you said I was arguing for style over substance when I was actually arguing for substance over style.
---
Trying to be on topic at least a little now -
I was personally rather upset when I learned about a year ago that the game for the PC was being delayed for nearly a year so they could port it to consoles and release it on consoles simultaneously. Really upset. I had waited long for this game, and Bioware had kept doing more actiony games for consoles instead of finishing DAO (in my view, at least, whether that was true or not.) I'm a old-time computer gamer, so all the resources and focus on consoles does burn me.
That being upset aside, I am more reasonably glad they DID port the game, as hopefully the added sales will help to balances the spreadsheets and hopefully turn the company enough of a profit in the long run to get me more DAO style games.
So while I could rant and rave about wanting my PC version now and screw the console gamers - and if I got absolutely selfish and inconsiderate of Bioware I certainly could - I will be content knowing that Bioware is doing its best to bring me the game I want on the platform I want while turning enough of a profit to make me MORE games I want on the platform I want.
That's how I tend to look at it, at least.
Modifié par MerinTB, 19 janvier 2010 - 04:49 .
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