Card 9 of 24 · Presumption
Secundum quid (ad hoc exemption)
Moving the finish line when you’re losing the race.
When evidence challenges your claim, you suddenly invent exceptions.
Example
“Every prediction I make comes true.”
“What about the last three?”
“Those don’t count because the conditions were unusual.”
Related to the classical a dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid: applying or suspending a rule without justified qualification. Special pleading exempts favored cases without principled reason.
Diagnosis: The exemption is invented after the fact and supported only by its convenience. A legitimate exception needs an independent, principled difference between X and other cases.
“Everything needs a cause — except God.” Careful cosmological arguments avoid this by saying everything that begins to exist (or is contingent) needs a cause, then argue that God is neither. That’s a principled distinction, not special pleading.
“We read the Old Testament laws as culturally bound — except the ones that support my view.” Consistency demands a stated hermeneutic applied evenly.
“Lying is always wrong — but my lie on the grant report was different.” Was it principled (e.g., the Rahab case) or self-serving?
Trail recovery
Ask what makes the exception principled. Many exceptions are legitimate — the question is whether the reason would apply to anyone, not just the speaker’s case.
Try saying: “What’s the feature of this case that makes it different — and would that apply to other cases too?”
Keep questioning. Keep exploring.