>Perhaps this is a bit of verbal purism, but I really do wish that more
>posters would distinguish between _ad hominem_ arguments and personal
>attacks.
>
>An _ad hominem_ argument holds that because Mary is a jerk her statement
>is false.
>
>A personasl attack holds that because Mary's statement is false, she is
>a jerk.
>
>There is a big difference. Ad hominem arguments are intellectually
>poisonous.
>
>Personal attacks may be impolite or even immoral, but they don't confuse
>the argument.
...listen: I know Matthew Arnold is not
far off: he's going to come roaring out of the woods, deeply offended by the briars and limber limbs, and mount up on a high stone chair and declaim to the woods: he's going to
reinaugurate the distinctions and subordinations that make sense: he's going to turn the lofty lofty and broad and force the minuscule into its residence...
-A.R. Ammons, Sphere: The Form of a Motion, section 30