Can we impeach Bush for stupidity?

[Agathon]

no, because every time something about philosophy or logic or apple comes up you feel you need to interject with your "expertise" which is shoddy at best. Ive seen you humiliated in debates with people as low Asher...

That says more about your grasp of logic than mine.

I don't pretend to be an expert about Apple. I just happen to have usually read the actual news items that Asher exaggerates 100 fold in his campaign to prove that Apple is in league with the devil. I still think he's Steve Jobs illegitimate son who is out to take vengeance on the father who abandoned him. And if you bother reading those threads, you will see that I claim very little - usually just that the evidence doesn't support the conclusion.

And I am a philosophy expert. It's what I get paid to do. I've taught critical thinking many times. That's enough to know that oftentimes when one Apolytoner accuses another of committing a fallacy the latter has done no such thing. Case in point - when confronted with counterexamples people are always accusing others of attacking straw men when in fact it is their own poorly articulated position that invites the obvious counterexample.

Having said that, there is precious little real philosophy on Apolyton (which is good because it would probably bore people).

In this case people are simply wrong about what constitutes an ad hominem attack. If it were as broad as they think, many reasonable inferences would be cut out.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by MRT144
.... Ive seen you humiliated in debates with people as low Asher...

And Asher is the latest driveby shooting victim....

[Dis]

Originally posted by Jaguar
This thread reeks of "I just decided that I truly hate Bush and now feel like announcing it to the world, even though everyone else came to that conclusion years ago."

I came to that conclusion a few months ago, then I realized I also hate Kerry.

I'm voting for neither this election.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


It's slightly amusing that US conservatives view Ronald Reagan as the high point of US history in the last 100 years or so.

Poor sods.

I've an extreme amount of respect for Harry Truman.

[MrFun]

For nuking those nasty Japs, right??

[Verto]

Originally posted by MrFun
For nuking those nasty Japs, right??

Among other things, yes.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Agathon
I'll give you a clue.

Saying "Bush is an idiot, therefore we shouldn't listen to him" is not committing any fallacy, since it's good practice not to listen to idiots. It certainly isn't committing an ad hominem fallacy. You guys need to read a logic book.

This is almost as good as Skywalker's attempt at defining the fallacy of appeal to authority.

I was right, too. I pointed out that saying "an expert says it, thus it is true" is a fallacy, which it is.

Saying "an expert says it, therefore we ought to believe that it is true", is different. But that's not what you said originally.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Verto


Among other things, yes.

that's nice

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Aggie is correct, that was not an ad hominem. It's only one when you attack your opponents in a debate or discussion. Or rather, it is an ad hominem unquestionably.

And I guess this doesn't count as a debate or discussion?