Argumentum

Argumentum, ärg-ū-ment′um, n. an argument.—The following are forms of indirect argument:—Argumentum ad hominem, an appeal to the known prepossessions or previous admissions of an opponent; Argumentum ad ignorantiam, an argument founded on the ignorance of an opponent; Argumentum ad invidiam, an argument appealing to the prejudices of the person addressed; Argumentum ad judicium, an appeal to the common-sense of mankind; Argumentum ad verecundiam, an appeal to our reverence for some respected authority; Argumentum baculinum, the argument of the cudgel—most concise of arguments, an appeal to force; Argumentum per impossibile, or Reductio ad absurdum, the proof of a conclusion derived from the absurdity of a contradictory supposition.—For the Ontological, Cosmological, Teleological, and Moral arguments in Theism, see under these adjectives.