Pot calling the kettle black
The pot calling the kettle black is an informal fallacy also called Tu quoque.[1] Another name is appeal to hypocrisy.
It happens when a person is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another.[2]
| “ | "Oho!" said the pot to the kettle; "You are dirty and ugly and black! Sure no one would think you were metal, Except when you're given a crack". "Not so! not so!" kettle said to the pot; |
” |
A fable, perhaps by Aesop, has a mother crab and its young, where the mother tells the child to walk straight, and is asked in return to demonstrate how that is done.[4]
A present-day example:
- Peter: "It is morally wrong to use animals for food or clothing".
- Bill: "But you are wearing a leather jacket and you have a roast beef sandwich in your hand! How can you say that using animals for food and clothing is wrong?" [5]
It is a fallacy because a person's actions or character do not affect the logic of the argument.
Pot Calling The Kettle Black Media
Charles H. Bennett's illustration of the saying (1860), with a coalman confronting a chimney sweep
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References
- ↑ Tu quoque is Latin for "you also". "tu quoque, n." Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ↑ Bluedorn, Nathaniel (2002). The Fallacy Detective. p. 54. ISBN 0-9745315-0-2.
- ↑ "St Nicholas Magazine 3.4" (PDF). February 1876. p. 224. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
- ↑ Folklore and Fable vol.XVII, New York 1909, p.30 [1]
- ↑ "Fallacy: ad hominem tu quoque". Nizkor project. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
