Ad hominem ("to the man" / "against the person") fallacies, also called fallacies of personal attack, are informal fallacies committed when one attempts to discredit a position by attacking something about its source—the arguer—rather than addressing the argument's actual merits. The category encompasses several distinct subtypes distinguished by the nature of the attack: abusive ad hominem (attacking personal characteristics), circumstantial ad hominem (alleging self-interested motive), tu quoque (alleging the arguer's own hypocrisy), guilt by association (discrediting a claim via an unsavory endorser), genetic fallacy (discrediting a claim via its origin), and ad feminam (discrediting a claim because a woman proposed it). This concept belongs to informal logic / critical thinking, within the broader taxonomy of informal fallacies.
Ad hominem ("to the man" / "against the person") fallacies, also called fallacies of personal attack, are informal fallacies committed when one attempts to discredit a position by attacking something…