(May 26, 2013 at 5:53 pm)Gilgamesh Wrote: If I attack someone's character, that's not an ad hominem. If I were to say "You're an idiot. Nothing you say can be right because you're dumb." instead of addressing their argument, that would be an ad hom.
You are quite correct.
Here is a quote from DeistPaladin where he explained the ad hominem fallacy in clear and simple terms:
(October 1, 2011 at 11:44 pm)DeistPaladin Wrote: Ad Hominem is probably the most misunderstood of the logical fallacies. It's classification as a logical fallacy is sometimes taken to mean that you have to play nice.
Not every insult is an ad hominem. Not every mean comment is an ad hominem. Not every bit of mockery is an appeal to ridicule.
It becomes an ad hominem when insults are used in place of an argument. It's where you attack the person and not the argument.
Ad hominem: "Oh yeah, well, you're stupid, so there"
Not ad hominem: "In your argument, you missed X, Y, and Z and here's A, B, and C to show that you're wrong, you blithering idiot."
In the second example, the insult, while perhaps a bit harsh, is not an indicator of fallacious reasoning. The insult is in addition to the argument, as a by the way, not a replacement for an argument.
http://atheistforums.org/thread-8833.html