great thinkers, great ideas

40 An Introduction to Clearer Thinking

the less apparent, but equally frustrating, are questions like this,

“Was Alger Hiss an intelligent and honest man?” The fallacy of

the complex question often arises in debates or in movie court­

room scenes.

TU QUOQUE This means you yourself do it. When one says

that a statement by an individual is false because the individual

does not act in accordance with that statement, a tu quoque

fallacy exists. For example, a teacher tells his students that they

shouldn’t smoke, it’s bad for their health. The students respond,

“Don’t tell us that we shouldn’t smoke. You do.” The teacher’s

bad habit, or lack of will power, has nothing to do with the

accuracy and veracity of his statement. Children are always

questioning their parents about bed time, “R” rated movies,

drinking liquor, and many other things that parents do while

forbidding their children to do the same things. The mere fact

that an adult does that which he forbids his children to do does

not make the adult a hypocrite. Adults need less sleep, thus the

child should be in bed earlier. “R” rated movies are rated for

adults and not for children, because the content is at a more

mature level. Drinking liquor in moderation is legitimate for

adults. Young children, because of body weight alone, can and

should be put off from such activity.

IGNORING THE ISSUE This is also called the fallacy of

irrelevant evidence. This fallacy consists in either disproving
what has not been stated or proving a point other than the one at
issue. This fallacy is very difficult to deal with because when a
person is committing the fallacy his argument can and often does
sound perfect. That’s because the argument often is perfect— it
just doesn’t relate to the issue under discussion. This fallacy
takes many forms, all of which divert attention from the critical
issue. The most common examples are:
a) Argumentum ad hominem: Instead of dealing with the
issue on its merits, this fallacy consists of attacking the man
himself, his reputation, his honesty, his personal life, or any
other shortcomings he may have. If one says, “Don’t believe
what he says, he’s a convicted felon,” that statement might have
some merit if it relates to the felon’s comments on his guilt or
innocence. But, if a felon speaks on an unrelated issue, that issue