FALLACY DEFINITIONS
GROUP 6: REFUTATION BASED FALLACIES
TEST #6

A CORRECT ANSWER IS

Explain the tu quoque fallacy.

"Tu quoque" means "you too," and consists of responding to allegations of wrong doing by saying, in essence, "you do the same thing." That response may be true, but it doesn't deny or explain away the alleged wrongdoing. Tu quoque is also known as the "you too" fallacy, and the "two wrongs make a right" fallacy.

Another variation of tu quoque is the "common practice" fallacy, that consists of answer allegations of wrong doing by saying "other people do the same thing," or "everybody does it."

An example of tu quoque would happen in an argument between a husband and wife or another intimate couple. One member of the couple says the other has been behaving badly and the response in that he or she has behaved just as badly. (Note: in this example the response isn't that the first person's behavior prompted the second person's actions, but only that the first person is just as bad.) An example of the common practice variation would be someone accused of cheating on taxes defending himself by saying, "Everybody cheats."

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