Ad Hominem Can Hurt Your Team

An argument that can be refuted using logic is said to be logically fallacious.

Contrary to a subjective argument or one that can be disproved with evidence, a position must be illogical or deceptive in some way in order to be deemed a logical fallacy.

There are fallacies in reasoning all around us. Once you learn to recognize them, you'll see how pervasive they are and how they can undermine the core point. The ability to recognize logical fallacies in yourself as well as others can help you develop your critical thinking skills and make you a better writer and reader.

What is an Ad hominem attack?

Probably the most typical logical fallacy of them all is the Ad hominem.

When cornered, your opponent makes a personal attack as a diversion since they are unable to address the crux of your argument.

An example of an ad hominem is as follows:-

"That's the response I anticipated from a person of your reputation," the speaker said.

"I thought that way when I was your age,"

"You're new around here, aren't you?"

"You'll move on from it,"

A rational person may quickly identify an ad hominem (When your interlocutor is attacking you personally rather than attempting to explain why he or she feels your argument is flawed).

Here are some other common kinds of ad hominems:

1) Genetic ad hominem:

Claiming that someone's ancestry renders their argument inadmissible: That's what you'd say, wouldn't you? You're African.

2) Reacting to tone or disliking attitude:

I don't like your tone of voice or You have a response for everything, right?

3) Swearing or calling someone names:

"Don't be such a fool!"

Ad Hominem is NOT a catch-all phrase for insults. It simply isn't. Insults are not fallacies. Although they are disliked, they don't logically weaken an argument.

Ad Hominem attacks your position by refuting it with a personal characteristic.

Example:

Insult:

The statistics given in footnote prove that you're wrong you hog!

Ad Hominem:

You're a hog, so you're wrong!

In teams, this fallacy unfortunately tends to exist when the opinions and suggestions of certain members of the team are ignored, simply because that person is maybe a novice, the lowest shareholder, the youngest in the team, the most annoying, the least productive, the least smartest and much more. As a team leader whether in a Business analysis project or wherever you find yourself, always ensure you avoid this fallacy, be open minded and understand that anyone can be useful. In 2019, Wolf Cukier, a 17-year-old junior at Scarsdale High School in New York, was able to secure a two-month internship with NASA. He therefore made his way to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, during the summer of 2019. His first task was to investigate variations in star brightness recorded by the Planet Hunters TESS citizen science initiative using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS. (The citizen science initiative enables non-NASA employees to contribute to the search for new planets.) Cukier's internship had only been three days when he made a new planet discovery. Why? Because he was given an opportunity.

To summarise, analyse your team today and ask yourself:

Are there times I exempted someone from my team because of Ad Hominem?