Overwhelming exception

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An overwhelming exception is an informal fallacy of generalization. It is a generalization that is accurate, but comes with one or more qualifications which eliminate so many cases that what remains is much less impressive than the initial statement might have led one to believe. [1]

Contents

Examples

The false implication is that their foreign policy always helps other countries.

The rhetorical use of the fallacy can be used to comic effect, as in the below examples:

The attempted implication (fallacious in this case) is that the Romans did nothing for them.

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Fischer, D. H. (1970), Historians' Fallacies: Toward A Logic of Historical Thought, Harper torchbooks (first ed.), New York: HarperCollins, p. 127, ISBN   978-0-06-131545-9, OCLC   185446787