(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.
Yes. If you attack someone's character in place of making an argument, it is an ad hom. If the attack comes in addition to making a reasoned argument, it's just an insult.
Ad hom: "Cthulhu is an immoral asshole (*), pay him no mind."
Not an ad hom: "Cthulhu's argument fails because of X, Y, and Z. Oh, and BTW, he's an immoral asshole (*)."
(*) True.