[OPE-L] Fwd: [PEN-L] an ad hominem response

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

When pressed, I came up with the following. Any other ideas?/m

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At 16:19 14/04/2006, Jim D wrote:

On 4/14/06, michael a. lebowitz <mlebowit@xxxxxx> wrote:
>  Nah, it's got to mean more than that: here's another use from a letter to
> S. Meyers, 30 April 1867:
> Volume I comprises the 'Process of Production of Capital'. As well as
> setting out the general theory, I examine in great detail the conditions of
> the English ­ agricultural and industrial ­ proletariat over the last 20
> years, ditto the condition of Ireland, basing myself on official sources
> that have never previously been used. You will immediately realise that all
> this serves me solely as an argumentum ad hominem.

so what _does_ it mean, Chairman Mike?

        I've had to consult with Marx because current usage treats an ad hominem argument as fallacious (as in, yeah, but wasn't Marx's grandfather a rabbi?). The question is--- how did he use it? Eg., here 's something from a great 1842 note on censorship:

Moreover, the more than twenty years of illegal behaviour of the censors in defiance of the law would provide argumentum ad hominem that the press needs other guarantees than such general instructions for such irresponsible persons; it would provide the proof that there is a basic defect in the nature of the censorship which no law can remedy.

The 3 examples suggest that Marx meant something like an 'illustration'--- ie., not a logical proof but a one relying upon empiricism. Thus, years of censorship, evidence from blue books, demonstration to the masses by examples.
        cheers,
        the chairman
ps. re Julio's citation of 'one of Marx's favorite phrases was "nihil humani a me
alienum puto" [nothing human is alien to me]', that phrase was Feuerbach's.

Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at
Residencias Anauco Suites
Departamento 601
Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1
Caracas, Venezuela
(58-212) 573-4111
fax: (58-212) 573-7724

Michael A. Lebowitz

Professor Emeritus

Economics Department

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at

Residencias Anauco Suites

Departamento 601

Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1

Caracas, Venezuela

(58-212) 573-4111

fax: (58-212) 573-7724