Ad hominum

[Guest guest]

All,

 

> Whether or not you feel aggrieved, we all have a strong interest in

> not having personal attacks on the list. IMO, the message should be

> deleted.

 

It might be worthwhile to express a written policy on ad hominum attack. I

have seen a number of CHA posts that, while using less direct language than

" liar, " are more disruptive of open discourse. Thus, while I feel that a post

once made, (particularly one with as much follow-up as this one), ought to

be retained in the archive, any expurgating of the archives should be based

on an openly stated principle and applied to all posts.

 

Bob

 

 

bob Paradigm Publications

www.paradigm-pubs.com 44 Linden Street

Robert L. Felt Brookline MA 02445

617-738-4664

 

 

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[Guest guest]

, " Robert L. Felt " <bob@p...>

wrote:

 

> It might be worthwhile to express a written policy on ad

hominum attack. I

> have seen a number of CHA posts that, while using less direct

language than

> " liar, " are more disruptive of open discourse.

 

Ad hominum means when one uses the tactic of attacking the

character or principles of the individual rather than the merits of

his or her arguments. While ad hominum attacks are rampant

on the internet, we try to minimize them here. the most recent

incident stemmed more from a series of misunderstandings

rather than any malice. Nevertheless, we should refrain from

characterizing other members with regard to truthfulness,

intelligence, ethics, etc.

 

Ad hominem is considered to be a tactic used when one is

unable to sustain an argument based on the merits of the case.

Since it accomplishes nothing except to inflame emotions, it is

not allowed in most formal types of argument (debate, court). I

think a good rule of thumb is to first give people the benefit of the

doubt. Email is a tricky environment for communicating. Here

are a few things that I do to prevent misunderstandings. Try and

get as much information as you can about a situation before

jumping to conclusions. Consider contacting the offending party

directly. And if you write a post in anger, save it for a day and see

if you still want to send it the next day.