tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post4325208149026822924..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: Are tu quoque arguments fallacious?Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-42882490145781481902016-02-11T12:49:22.404-05:002016-02-11T12:49:22.404-05:00To me, a tu quote argument is an argument from (or...To me, a tu quote argument is an argument from (or by) analogy. <br /><br />Suppose someone says: "You should vote for Hillary because she's a woman. That would make history. That would advance the cause of women."<br /><br />Suppose I respond: "In that event, you should vote for Rubio because he's Latino. That would make history. That would advance the cause of Latino minorities."<br /><br />That's a tu quote argument. And it's an argument from analogy. But it's hard to see how that's fallacious. You're responding to the person on their own grounds by creating a parallel argument.<br /><br />It's a way of forcing them to be consistent. If they invoke a general principle to justify a particular action, you invoke the same principle (for the sake of argument), to justify a related action–which is contrary to their position. <br /><br />That puts pressure on them to relieve their inconsistency by surrendering the principle, if they can't apply their principle consistency.<br /><br />We could also view it as a reductio ad absurdum of their position. We take their premise to a logical extreme, which has unacceptable consequences for their overall position. <br /><br />Now, in the aforesaid case, I might not support Rubio for president. Maybe I prefer Cruz or Jindal or Rand Paul. But that's irrelevant to the force of the argument, since I'm arguing from assumptions provided by my opponent. stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16547070544928321788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-38556849811710972222016-02-10T13:43:42.008-05:002016-02-10T13:43:42.008-05:00I'm glad someone is standing up for tu quoque ...I'm glad someone is standing up for tu quoque arguments. I see a lot of Catholic and EO apologists making the charge of fallacy when they get pressed with a tu quoque argument. But what it really does is expose a false premise in their objection.<br /><br />Have you expanded on this elsewhere? Or has someone else come out in defense of tu quoque arguments that is worth reading?David Gadboishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18375984671877016361noreply@blogger.com