Steelman
Accident
Also called a dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid, sweeping generalization, destroying the exception, dicto simpliciter.
Applying a general rule to a case it was never meant to cover.
What it is
Treating a generally true rule as if it had no exceptions, and applying it to an unusual case where the reasons behind the rule don’t hold.
The pattern
Generally, X is true. This case is an exception to the usual situation. Therefore X is true here.
An example
“Cutting people with knives is a crime. Surgeons cut people with knives. So surgeons are criminals.”
The rule is about harming people. Surgery is a consented, beneficial exception.
Why it fails
Most rules of thumb have exceptions that go unstated because they’re obvious. Applying a rule where its purpose doesn’t hold follows the letter of the rule while defeating its point.
When it’s not a fallacy
Most lists skip this part. Calling a fair point a fallacy is a mistake too.
It can be fair when
- The case really is a typical one that the rule was meant for.
Try one
A question from the app. The wrong answers are its usual look-alikes.
Group chat. Priya: “Please don’t spoil the finale. I’m on a ship with no internet until the 20th.” Ten days later, Jake posts who dies. Priya, back online: “Seriously?” Jake: “It had been out ten days. The spoiler window is one week. That’s the rule, and after that it’s fair game. I even put a spoiler tag on it.” Priya: “Great. Muting you.”
What’s the flaw?
A one-week spoiler window is a sensible rule of thumb, since most people who care have watched by then. Priya told everyone she couldn’t, which is exactly the case the rule isn’t built for.
A fair reply
“The week is for people who could watch it, and I told you I couldn’t.”
Often confused with
- Hasty generalization
Hasty generalization builds a rule from too few cases. Accident misapplies a sound rule to an exceptional case.
- Special pleading
Special pleading invents an exception that isn’t justified. Accident ignores one that is.
Where the name comes from
“Accident” is the philosophers’ old word for a feature a thing happens to have, as opposed to one that makes it what it is. The fallacy overlooks the accidental features that make a case an exception to the rule. The Latin, often cut to “dicto simpliciter”, runs from a rule said simply to a case that needs a qualifier. “Sweeping generalization” and “destroying the exception” say what happens: one rule sweeps over every case and wipes out the exception.
Accident is one of Aristotle’s language-independent fallacies. The medieval Latin name means “from a statement taken absolutely to a statement taken in a certain respect”.
Sources
In the app
Practice spotting it on arguments that sound real.
Steelman has more examples of accident, how to answer it in a real conversation, and practice rounds that mix it with its look-alikes, so you learn the difference, not just the name. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.
You’re on the list.
We’ll email you the day Steelman is out.
Thanks for offering to test. We’ll write before the beta with how to join.