Is There an Argumentum ad Hominem Fallacy?

If we understand a fallacy as a mistake in reasoning that occurs with some frequency in real arguments and is characteristically deceptive, there is no argumentum ad hominem fallacy. Arguing ad hominem in its original sense is a perfectly legitimate strategy of using an interlocutor’s concessions or commitments to show that the interlocutor is committed to a certain conclusion. The tu quoque, which emerged from this sense as an appeal to …