No.
That wasn't an entirely serious sentence :-)
You can ad-hominem in your mind - if you think the words "This person is an [x], so I don't have to listen to them" as a reason for ignoring an argument you should be listening to.
I certainly do that -- it's just that I don't think this activity can be usefully labeled "ad hominem". There is a tricky part in your sentence, though -- what is that "should be listening to" and where does it come from? How do I know what I should be listening to?
I certainly do that -- it's just that I don't think this activity can be usefully labeled "ad hominem". There is a tricky part in your sentence, though -- what is that "should be listening to" and where does it come from? How do I know what I should be listening to?
How do you know what you shouldn't be listening to? Or, to put a finer edge on it - you're already using a criteria for deciding what you shouldn't be listening to, the criteria you refuse to call ad-hominem. Why did you choose that criteria?
This thread is for asking any questions that might seem obvious, tangential, silly or what-have-you. Don't be shy, everyone has holes in their knowledge, though the fewer and the smaller we can make them, the better.
Please be respectful of other people's admitting ignorance and don't mock them for it, as they're doing a noble thing.
To any future monthly posters of SQ threads, please remember to add the "stupid_questions" tag.