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What logical fallacy is this?

Posted: 2009-05-27 10:09am
by Tyshalle
What's it called when somebody tries to shrug off a point one of your sources made by saying "nobody takes him seriously," or something to that effect?

Re: What logical fallacy is this?

Posted: 2009-05-27 10:58am
by Oskuro
Probably Ad-Hominem, attacking the integrity of the speaker rather than the arguments, although it could have a bit of appeal to popularity/authority thrown in.

Re: What logical fallacy is this?

Posted: 2009-05-27 11:00am
by Darth Wong
Tyshalle wrote:What's it called when somebody tries to shrug off a point one of your sources made by saying "nobody takes him seriously," or something to that effect?
That depends on whether it's a "point" or a factual claim. If it's a factual claim and the source is not considered authoritative, then it is actually reasonable to dismiss it by saying "no one takes him seriously", assuming that's actually true. If it's a logical point, then you should learn it well enough to express it in your own words, and then it doesn't matter if no one takes the original source seriously.

Re: What logical fallacy is this?

Posted: 2009-05-27 02:48pm
by Tyshalle
It's in reference to a movie review. I posted a link to a video movie review saying that I largely agree with the points he makes against the movie, and somebody replies, rather than by arguing any of those points, instead by saying that it got a 95% rotten tomatoes score for a reason and that nobody takes the video reviewer seriously anyway.

Re: What logical fallacy is this?

Posted: 2009-05-27 04:22pm
by Thanas
That may be an appeal to popularity, but without the exact wording of your exchange it is a bit hard to tell.