Exactly -- the very root of the argument was to respond to the argument rather than the person.
The only time this does not apply is when the other person makes their "person" part of the argument, for example by saying "I am more credible in this area because I am Italian" or "You are not as credible as I am because you are not German". But in these cases ad hominem is still not really to be used beyond a very limited extent, that is for example to ask 1) Why it is relevant whether or not you are German, Italian or, say, Romanian; 2) Why it is expected that an Italian or a Spaniard by sheer nationality will know more about a topic than an Albanian or Korean; 3) Whether or not it makes sense to say that a certain nationality is more directly concerned with a topic than others.
Mark
On 13/09/06, theProject wp.theproject@gmail.com wrote:
On 9/13/06, Jacky PB dpotop1@yahoo.com wrote:
Respond to the ARGUMENT, not the PERSON. National origin is not relevant, despite what racists such as you will say.
Nice speech, but have *you* not said of many others that their oppinion is not relevant because of *their* ethnic origin?
Yeah, fight against racism is a good propaganda argument as long as you use it, and not the other. Cool!
Dpotop
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The fact that node ue is making this argument changes nothing. I could make the same argument and I would hope nobody would call me a racist.
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