Tu quoque

This article is about the logical fallacy. For the historical quotation "Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi", see Et tu, Brute? For the play by John Cooke, see Greene's Tu Quoque. For legal defense, see Tu quoque defense.

Tu quoque^[a] is a discussion technique that intends to discredit the opponent's argument by attacking the opponent's own personal behavior and actions as being inconsistent with their argument, so that the opponent appears hypocritical. This specious reasoning is a special type of ad hominem attack. The Oxford English Dictionary cites John Cooke's 1614 stage play The Cittie Gallant as the earliest known use of the term in the English language.^[1]

Form and explanation

The (fallacious) tu quoque argument follows the template (i.e. pattern):^[2]

1. Person A claims that a statement X is true.
2. Person B asserts that A's actions or past claims are inconsistent with the truth of claim X.
3. Therefore, X is false.

For example:

1. Person A: "Smoking is associated with chronic health disorders. You shouldn't smoke."
2. Person B: "But you smoke yourself. So much for your argument!"^[3]

Person A makes a statement, and Person B reasons that because Person A is being hypocritical, their statement is false.

Similar concepts

A similar concept in politics is that of whataboutism; raising a counteraccusation, often in the form of a larger but unrelated issue. In the Soviet Union in the 1930s, the phrase "and you are lynching Negroes" was often raised against the United States.

See also

• Accusation in a mirror
• Clean hands
• False equivalence
• In pari delicto
• List of fallacies
• List of Latin phrases
• Matthew 7:5
• People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
• Psychological projection
• The pot calling the kettle black
• Two wrongs don't make a right
• Victor's justice

Notes

1. /tjuːˈkwoʊkwiː/;^[1] Latin for 'you also'. Also known as the appeal to hypocrisy, "you too" fallacy, "two wrongs" fallacy, "pot calling the kettle black" fallacy, and the "look who's talking" fallacy.