Question

...

Appeal to Hypocrisy

How do you call out hypocrisy without committing the Tu Quoque fallacy?

asked on Wednesday, Dec 30, 2020 08:54:54 AM by

Top Categories Suggested by Community

Comments

Want to get notified of all questions as they are asked? Update your mail preferences and turn on "Instant Notification."

Like the Site? You'll Love the Book!

This book is a crash course, meant to catapult you into a world where you start to see things how they really are, not how you think they are.  The focus of this book is on logical fallacies, which loosely defined, are simply errors in reasoning.  With the reading of each page, you can make significant improvements in the way you reason and make decisions.

Get 20% off this book and all Bo's books*. Use the promotion code: websiteusers

* This is for the author's bookstore only. Applies to autographed hardcover, audiobook, and ebook.

Get the Book

Answers

...
Bo Bennett, PhD
3

Hypocrisy is the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform . Calling out one's hypocrisy is fine as long as it is not used as a reason to dismiss one's argument. For example:

Televangelist X preaches about how sinful being gay is, then is caught having gay sex. People call him hypocritical. - No problem.

Televangelist X preaches about how sinful being gay is, then is caught having gay sex. People call him hypocritical, and conclude that gay sex is not sinful. - Problem

In the second example, one should call the televangelist hypocritical, then make another argument as to why gay sex is not sinful, as long as the televangelist's hypocrisy is not used as support for the argument.

answered on Wednesday, Dec 30, 2020 09:03:17 AM by Bo Bennett, PhD

Bo Bennett, PhD Suggested These Categories

Comments

...
0
account no longer exists writes:

Also, is the phrase "Do as I say, not as I do" sound advise. Should it be considered by the person being told this. 

posted on Friday, Jan 01, 2021 06:56:17 AM
...
0
Bo Bennett, PhD writes:
[To Ms. Elyce]

Yes, if the person does unwise things.

[ login to reply ] posted on Friday, Jan 01, 2021 06:58:21 AM
...
Dr. Richard
1

The Fallacy of Inconsistency is to make contradictory claims. Something cannot be both true and not true at the same time and in the same respect. In this situation, I try to keep the focus on the person who said the statement in question. This is not difficult by asking questions, as Boghossian suggested in his book “How to Have Impossible Conversations.” 

answered on Thursday, Dec 31, 2020 11:17:51 AM by Dr. Richard

Dr. Richard Suggested These Categories

Comments

...
TrappedPrior (RotE)
0

Tu Quoque is a fallacy of relevance. That is, if someone's personal values (or lack thereof) are irrelevant to the argument, you cannot dismiss their argument using that evidence.

You can, however, use it to suggest someone is arguing in bad faith  after  you've proved them wrong/fallacious through other means. So if you demonstrated their argument did not work,  and  then showed they're hypocritical, you have done serious work.

answered on Thursday, Dec 31, 2020 04:04:45 PM by TrappedPrior (RotE)

TrappedPrior (RotE) Suggested These Categories

Comments