Ad Hominem

lit. “to the man”

Attacking the person making an argument instead of the argument itself.

Origin

The phrase comes from Roman rhetoric, originally meaning 'arguing to the specific person' (a tailored argument), not what it means now. Its modern logical-fallacy sense — attacking the speaker as a substitute for engaging with what they said — is established by the 19th century. Not every personal criticism is an ad hominem: pointing out a conflict of interest in financial testimony is relevant; attacking someone's haircut is not.

Modern usage

The other most-named fallacy online — 'that's ad hominem' is the reflex defensive move when criticism gets personal. Often misapplied: calling someone wrong is not ad hominem; calling them stupid because they're wrong is. The phrase has fully crossed over from logic textbooks into ordinary argument vocabulary.

Strawman

Misrepresenting someone's argument as a weaker, easier-to-attack version of itself, then defeating that version instead of the actual claim.

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Logical Fallacies

Tu Quoque

Dismissing a criticism by pointing out the critic does or did the same thing — 'you do it too, so it doesn't count.'

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Logical Fallacies

Whataboutism

Responding to a criticism by pointing at someone else's bad behavior instead of addressing the criticism itself.

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