Jeff Tucker and Joseph Stromberg have penned a polite and devastating rejoinder to a book by a professor at Penn State. Happily, the book presents an opportunity for a lesson in philosophy. In all fairness, Professor Aune s book may be characterized as a smear. First, we must distinguish between a smear and a justified criticism. Smears ignore truth and reality.
Smears are insults, as opposed to arguments.
In philosophy, such personal attacks are referred to as ad hominem arguments. We can also call him a homophobe, mean-spirited, a Republican, a conservative, a Christian, or any other label which passes in some circles as a bad name, but you get the point. We will now characterize a justified criticism. To carry the argument to more advanced subjects, Ludwig von Mises contends that private property and human freedom are necessary for the flourishing of human civilization. Private ownership of property is the root of all evil.