Chapter 4: Informal fallacies

What all fallacies of relevance have in common is that they make an argument or response to an argument that is irrelevant to that argument. Fallacies of relevance can be psychologically compelling, but it is important to distinguish between rhetorical techniques that are psychologically compelling, on the one hand, and rationally compelling arguments, on the other. What makes something a fallacy is that it fails to be rationally compelling, once we have carefully considered it. That said, arguments that fail to be rationally compelling may still be psychologically or emotionally compelling. The first fallacy of relevance that we will consider, the ad hominem fallacy, is an excellent example of a fallacy that can be psychologically compelling.