The problem with most of these (informal) fallacies is that they are attempts to prevent argument, either by shutting the other party up, or by diverting the di

The problem with most of these (informal) fallacies is that they are attempts to prevent argument, either by shutting the other party up, or by diverting the discussion away from the matter at hand. When they are used like that they could be considered incompatible with a commitment to reason, or as fallacies. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer documented these tactics humorously in The Art of Controversy (Chapter III): http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/controversy/chapter3.html http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/controve...