Dicto Simpliciter - Accident

(Destroying the Exception)

 

Description:

The argument exploits an over-simplistic or unqualified statement of a rule to disallow what should be recognized as a legitimate exception to that rule.

 

Examples:

"That ambulance deserves a ticket. No one is allowed to run red lights!"

 

"I don't care if you do have a bloody nose! No one can go to the restroom without a hall pass signed by their teacher."

 

Discussion:

For a discussion of this fallacy, see Dicto Simpliciter.

 

Source: Aristotle, Sophistical Refutations 5 (166b: 30 - 35). He did not explicitly pair it with the Secundum Quid fallacy.

 

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