Tu Quoque
Deflecting criticism by accusing the critic of the same fault instead of answering it.
- informal
Tu quoque (Latin for “you too”), or the appeal to hypocrisy, dismisses a criticism or argument by charging the person making it with inconsistency — “you do it too” — rather than addressing the point. Whether the critic practices what they preach has no bearing on whether their claim is correct.
Examples
- “My doctor told me to lose weight, but she's overweight herself, so I'll ignore the advice.”
- “Dad, you can't tell me not to smoke — you smoked when you were my age.”
Why it works & how to counter
Persuasive because hypocrisy feels like it discredits the message. Counter it by noting that a claim's truth doesn't depend on whether the speaker lives up to it — a smoker can still be right that smoking is harmful.