Argument Ad Hominem

Dr. William Lane Craig explains the fallacy of argument "ad hominem."

Grab a copy of Dr. Craig's new book "On Guard" to learn more about this and other arguments on how to defend your faith with reason and precision.

Transcript

Bobby Conway: Dr. Craig, some people would say, “It is so arrogant of you as Christians to claim that your belief is correct.”

Dr. Craig: Now, if this is intended to be an argument against the truth of Christianity, Bobby, then it’s a classic example of what’s called the fallacy of argument ad hominem. Now, what’s that? Well, argument ad hominem is attacking the character of the person who holds a belief in order to try to invalidate the belief. And this is obviously logically fallacious.

A person could have a terrible character; he could be arrogant, he could be immoral, he could be dishonest, and yet the belief that he holds might well be true. So, you can’t invalidate a belief by attacking the character of the person who holds it. That is to commit the fallacy of argument ad hominem.