268 Unit 7 Critical reasoning: Advanced Level
effectively breaking the rule that two wrongs
do not make a right. It is also a form of ad
hominem argument (see Chapter 4.9) when
directed at someone personally, as in this case.
K is saying: ‘You watch a dangerous sport, so
you can’t criticise me for watching reality TV.’
Note that tu quoque arguments can take a
more general form. I am committing the same
reasoning error, for example, if I say that I
cannot be criticised for doing something
because lots of people do it too. The fact that
lots of people break the speed limit or drop
litter or tell lies does not make any of these acts
less wrong.for entertainment, it’s all right to watch Big
Brother, the implication being that identifying
nasty things about one spectacle justifies the
unpleasantness of the other. But surely K is
supposed to be defending Big Brother. It is a
weak defence to say that it is no nastier than
something else that is nasty.Tu quoque
This is another classic fallacy to add to your
file. Tu quoque means literally ‘you too’. More
explicitly it means responding to a criticism or
objection by saying that the other person, or
other people, are guilty of the same thing. At
the lowest level it is quite a childish argument,Summary
• In this chapter we have looked at three
frequently used forms of non-deductive
argument:
• induction
• argument to the best explanation
• argument from analogy.• It is an important analytical skill to be able
to recognise these forms and to evaluate
them appropriately.2 Analyse and critically evaluate J’s longest
argument in the dialogue on pages 266–7
(the speech which begins ‘Now there you
are wrong.. .’).
3 (Harder task) Find out more about the
Aquatic Ape Theory, and some of the
arguments that are raised for and against it.
Write a short essay either supporting or
challenging the theory.Answers and comments are on page 340.1 Clive is an experienced hill-walker. For 25
years he spent most of his leisure time
backpacking in wild country, living off the
land, sleeping in the open and finding his
way, sometimes in uncharted regions. He
refuses to use satnav. His most valued
possession is a compass, which he says
has saved his life on numerous occasions,
especially in bad weather and poor
visibility. Only once, on a ridge in Scotland
in thick cloud, did he get dangerously lost,
not knowing that the rock in certain places
contained minerals which can attract a
compass needle and distort the reading.
When the cloud lifted he realised that he
had strayed a long way off course.
What does the above anecdote imply
about inductive reasoning?End-of-chapter assignments