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Special pleading is a form of fallacious argument that involves an attempt to cite something as an exception to a generally accepted rule, principle, etc. without justifying the exception.^[1]^[2]

The lack of criticism may be a simple oversight (e.g., a reference to common sense) or an application of a double standard.

Examples

A more difficult case is when a possible criticism is made relatively immune to investigation. This immunity may take the forms of:

unexplained claims of exemption from principles commonly thought relevant to the subject matter

Example: I'm not relying on faith in small probabilities here. These are slot machines, not roulette wheels. They are different.

claims to data that are inherently unverifiable, perhaps because too remote or impossible to define clearly

Example: Cocaine use should be legal. Like all drugs, it does have some adverse health effects, but cocaine is different from other drugs. Many have benefited from the effects of cocaine.

In the classic distinction among informal (material), psychological, and formal (logical) fallacies, special pleading most likely falls within the category of psychological fallacy, as it would seem to relate to "lip service", rationalization and diversion (abandonment of discussion). Special pleading also often resembles the "appeal to" logical fallacies.^[3]

In medieval philosophy, it was not assumed that wherever a distinction is claimed, a relevant basis for the distinction should exist and be substantiated. Special pleading subverts an assumption of existential import.

Statistical

This variation occurs when the interpretation of the relevant statistic is "massaged" by looking for ways to reclassify or requantify data from one portion of results, but not applying the same scrutiny to other categories.^[4]

References

^ Damer, T. Edward (2008). Attacking Faulty Reasoning: A Practical Guide to Fallacy-free Arguments (6 ed.). Cengage Learning. pp. 122–124. ISBN 978-0-495-09506-4.
^ Engel, S. Morris (1994), Fallacies and Pitfalls of Language: The Language Trap, Courier Dover Publications, p. 102, ISBN 978-0-486-28274-9
^ This division is found in introductory texts such as Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument, W. Ward Fearnside, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1959. OCLC 710677
^ Fischer, D. H. (1970), Historians' Fallacies: Toward A Logic of Historical Thought, Harper torchbooks (first ed.), New York: HarperCollins, pp. 110–113, ISBN 978-0-06-131545-9, OCLC 185446787

External links

Special pleading at the Fallacy Files
Special pleading at the Nizkor Project
Logfall | Special pleading: Logical fallacies site addressing special pleading with examples.

[1] Damer, T. Edward (2008). Attacking Faulty Reasoning: A Practical Guide to Fallacy-free Arguments (6 ed.). Cengage Learning. pp. 122–124. ISBN 978-0-495-09506-4.

[Engel1994-2] Engel, S. Morris (1994), Fallacies and Pitfalls of Language: The Language Trap, Courier Dover Publications, p. 102, ISBN 978-0-486-28274-9

[3] This division is found in introductory texts such as Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument, W. Ward Fearnside, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1959. OCLC 710677

[Fischer1970-4] Fischer, D. H. (1970), Historians' Fallacies: Toward A Logic of Historical Thought, Harper torchbooks (first ed.), New York: HarperCollins, pp. 110–113, ISBN 978-0-06-131545-9, OCLC 185446787

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 * [http://www.fallacyfiles.org/specplea.html Special pleading at the Fallacy Files]
 * [http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/special-pleading.html Special pleading at the Nizkor Project]
+* [https://logfall.wordpress.com/special-pleading/ Logfall | Special pleading]: Logical fallacies site addressing ''special pleading'' with examples.
 {{Relevance fallacies}}

Revision as of 04:07, 22 March 2015

Examples

Statistical

See also

References

External links