Accident (fallacy)
The informal fallacy of accident is a deductively valid but unsound argument occurring in a statistical syllogism when an exception to a rule of thumb is ignored. It is one of the thirteen fallacies originally identified by Aristotle in Sophistical Refutations. The fallacy occurs when one attempts to apply a general rule to an irrelevant situation.
For example:
It is easy to construct fallacious arguments by applying general statements to specific incidents that are obviously exceptions.
Generalizations that are weak generally have more exceptions and vice versa.
This fallacy may occur when we confuse particulars for categorical statements. It may be encouraged when no qualifying words like "some", "many", "rarely" etc. are used to mark the generalization.
Related inductive fallacies include: overwhelming exception, hasty generalization. See faulty generalization.
The opposing kind of dicto simpliciter fallacy is the converse accident.
