Argumentum Ad Hominem in the Science of Race

2006/06/01 by John P. Jackson · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Argument (complex analysis) #Argumentation theory #Context (archaeology) #Dialectic #Epistemology #Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies #Gender studies #History #Law #Philosophy #Philosophy and History of Science #Political science #Politics #Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education #Race (biology) #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1080/00028533.2006.11821659

openalex publication_date 2006/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

In the past five decades, scholars have suggested that there are fallacious and proper uses of ad hominem arguments. Douglas Walton's pragmatic theory of argumentation incorporates a significant treatment of the ad hominem argument. This essay adapts Walton's theory to a case study of arguments about scientific research, paid for by the Pioneer Fund, into racial differences. The essay concludes that Pioneer-funded scientists engage in an illicit dialectical shift when they claim to be interested only in scientific, rather than political, questions. The essay calls for attention to the social context of arguers and arguing rather than abstract analytical categories.

Citations

• Science in the Service of the Far Right: Henry E. Garrett, the IAAEE, and the Liberty Lobby
• Toward a racial abyss: Eugenics, Wickliffe Draper, and the origins of The Pioneer Fund
• Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns.
• Case for Non‐Biased Intelligence Testing Against Black Africans Has Not Been Made: A Comment on Rushton, Skuy, and Bons (2004)
• Race Culture: Recent Perspectives on the History of Eugenics
• The Uses of Argument

Cited by

• Richard Lynn [wikipedia]