Ad hominem
Attacks the person rather than the argument.
Specimen
The proposal comes from a politician with three ethics violations on record . Why would we take economic advice from someone like that?
Fabricated passage — teaching example designed for clarity.
ad hominem — character attack replaces engagement with the argument
Dissection
Why would we take economic advice from someone with three ethics violations on record?
- speaker's character attacked
- argument never addressed
- conclusion drawn by association
Field notes
- Family
- Logical fallacy
- Habitat
- political reporting, debate coverage, opinion pieces
- Frequency
- found in 9% of analyzed articles
- Confused with
- Straw man , Loaded language
In the wild
"This is the man who said X last year — and now we're supposed to trust his analysis?"
Opinion section, regional broadsheet, March 2026
"The proposal's author has a history of getting these calls wrong. Make of that what you will."
Online commentary, political magazine, January 2026
Why it works
The character of the speaker is vivid and immediate; the argument itself is abstract. Once the character is tainted, the argument feels tainted too — even though they're logically independent.
Counter-move
Ask: even if the speaker is wrong about everything else, is this specific argument still right?
See it flagged in real articles while you read.
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