The fallacy fallacy
In the fallacy fallacy (or logical fallacy) it is claimed that if a fallacy has been committed, then the conclusion must be wrong. Often, of course, either no fallacy has been committed, or the claim of a fallacy is questionable. (Nigel Warburton (pages129-130) uses the term "that's a fallacy" for "falsely accusing someone of committing a fallacy.")
Especially popular is the claim that an ad hominem argument has been used, and therefore the person criticized must be right. But there are several problems with these types of arguments:
1. Often it is not clear that an ad hominem argument has been used. The question is whether or not the criticism is relevant or not. This usually revolves around such sometimes-fuzzy areas as conflicts of interest, strong biases and lack of expertise. For example, most of the defenders of Bjørn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist criticize Lomborg's critics for pointing that Lomborg has no published papers in any of the topics that he covers. I would think that publishing a 500 page book on a topic would imply that you are an authority, and that pointing out a lack of actual expertise is perfectly legitimate. Often this use of the fallacy fallacy is an attempt at censorship, putting topics like conflicts of interest off limits.
2. Often the person making claim that an ad hominem argument has been used will ignore other criticisms that have been made. In this case the fallacy fallacy acts as a red herring
3. This tactic is often used to generate sympathy for the person being criticized, while at the same time generating animosity toward the critic. For example, many of the defenders of Bjørn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist point out that someone threw a pie in his face {a scare tactic}; one author even claimed that he feared for Lomborg's future. While I certainly don't approve of such an action, its importance has been blown totally out of proportion, and those who have had nothing to do with the pie throwing have been made to look guilty by association.
Reference
Thinking from A to Z, by Nigel Warburton, Rutledge, 2000. The dictionary of faulty reasoning
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Written by Jim Norton
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