material fallaciesThe classification that is still widely used is that of Aristotle’s Sophistic Refutations: (1) The fallacy of accident is committed by an argument that applies a general rule to a particular case in which some special circumstance (“accident”) makes the rule inapplicable. The truth that “men are capable of seeing” is no basis for the conclusion that...Among Aristotle’s nonverbal fallacies, what is known as the fallacy of accident, in the simplest cases, amounts to at least a confusion between different senses of verbs for being. Because Aristotle’s handling of these verbs differs from contemporary treatments, his discussion of this fallacy has no direct counterpart in modern logic. One of his examples is the fallacious inference from (1)...
Fallacy of accident
Simply begin typing or use the editing tools above to add to this article.
Once you are finished and click submit, your modifications will be sent to our editors for review.