There are several types of ad hominem fallacies, in which some fact about the person or circumstances is used for attacking and rejecting an argument outright, without considering the its merits.
Latin source: ad hominem (against the person)
Cause for Attack
Type of Fallacy
attack the person directly
Ad Hominem
attack an inconsistency in something that the person has said or done previously
Ad Hominem Tu Quoque
attack on the person's motives, which are a result of circumstances (religion, politics, race, economic interests, other)
Circumstantial Ad Hominem
Thinking can be hard work, and the attack becomes a fallacy when it uses an issue of peripheral importance as a reason to avoid thinking.
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