{"id":4541,"date":"2021-10-15T14:45:33","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T12:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/?p=4541"},"modified":"2025-08-07T10:44:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T08:44:27","slug":"accident-e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/accident-e\/","title":{"rendered":"Accident"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fallacy of ACCENT<\/span> \u25ba\u00a0<\/em>AMBIGUITY<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

ACCIDENT<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

1. Accident and Fallacy of Accident<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/h1>\n

In the context of fallacy analysis, the term <\/strong>accident<\/strong> <\/em>does not have its ordinary meaning of \u201ccrash\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0mishap\u00a0\u00bb (Linguee)
\nAccident is taken in its philosophical meaning, which contrasts accident<\/em> with essence<\/em>. A being is characterized by a set of essential features that determine its place in a scientific classification.<\/a> Its generic<\/em> features express its genus and its specific difference<\/em> indicates its species.
\nUnlike \u201cis a mammal<\/em>\u201d, which is always<\/em>\u00a0true of all dogs, the truth of the accidental predicate \u201cis tired<\/em>\u201d depends on the circumstances, it may be true of a dog at a given time but it becomes false as soon as the dog’s condition changes.<\/p>\n

The fallacy of accident<\/strong> is the first on Aristotle\u2019s list of fallacies independent of discourse, see Ffallacies 2<\/a><\/em>: Aristotle’s foundational list<\/a>.
\nThe idea is that a valid syllogistic inference develops within the same category (domain)<\/strong>, for example, the class of animals: \u201cSocrates is a man, man is a mammal, so Socrates is a mammal<\/em>.\u00a0\u00bb
\nThe following fallacious inference develops from an accident \u00ab\u00a0Socrates is white, white is a color, so Socrates is a color<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0.<\/p>\n

The fallacy of accident occurs when an accidental characteristic of a being is mistaken for an essential one. In a definition, the corresponding defect is defining a being by a feature that belongs to it only accidentally.
\nFor example, \u201cwanders off in the middle of the road<\/em>\u201d is a relevant definite description, that allows for an unambiguous reference to a dog, but is not a defining feature of \u00ab\u00a0dog\u201d.
\nSimilarly, from an essentialist point of view, \u201cis a good time for having a nap<\/em>\u201d is not a defining feature of \u201cafternoon\u201d, see two-term reasoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. The Ad Accidens<\/em> Counter-Argument<\/span><\/h1>\n

Charging someone with committing the dialectical fallacy of accident is possible only if the accuser can refer to a solid and stabilized categorization, corresponding to a set of essentialist definitions, see definition 1<\/a>. In ordinary speech, accusing someone of committing a fallacy of accident is just a counterargument, which opens a stasis of definition and can be defeated itself<\/span><\/strong>.
\nThe ethical value of a profession is evaluated based on an examination of the moral worth of its values and practices. In a classical democratic regime, a politician can be either honest or dishonest<\/strong> without ever ceasing to be a politician. Dishonesty is not a prerequisite for becoming a politician; it is an accidental feature. \u201cHe is an honest politician<\/em>\u201d is not an oxymoron, \u201cHe is a dishonest politician<\/em>\u201d is not necessarily true. For those who share this view of things and people, characterizing political activity as an intrinsically dishonest activity, is committing the fallacy of accident. The person blamed for committing the fallacy might retort that his argument is based on an inductive generalization, from \u201ca number<\/em> of politicians we all know very well<\/em>\u201d, or on the actual structural condition of our political system, not on any transcendental organization of things.<\/p>\n

The argument from the opposites<\/a> <\/em>plays with the \u00ab\u00a0essential vs.<\/em> accidental\u00a0\u00bb character of the differences between two categories of beings, \u201cboys can go out at night, so girls should not, well, you know, girls are different from boys<\/em>\u201d. This argument is refuted by demoting the difference from essential to accidental. The same strategy applies to the distinction between a fact’s definition, and its circumstantial, contextual characteristics.<\/p>\n

Dissociated from the strict Aristotelian ontology, the \u201cessence vs.<\/em> accident\u201d opposition corresponds to the distinction between central<\/em> traits and peripheral<\/em> traits<\/strong><\/span>, and, in everyday life, to the distinction between\u00a0important<\/em> and the incidental traits.
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/span>In the absence of backing by an accepted ontology, the so-called fallacy of accident functions as a refutation that argues from the incidental nature<\/em> of an element, and finally corresponds to a strategy of minimizing<\/em> the disputed character<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fallacy of ACCENT \u25ba\u00a0AMBIGUITY ACCIDENT 1. Accident and Fallacy of Accident In the context of fallacy analysis, the term accident does not have its ordinary meaning of \u201ccrash\u00a0\u00bb or \u00ab\u00a0mishap\u00a0\u00bb (Linguee) Accident is taken in its philosophical meaning, which contrasts accident with essence. A being is characterized by a set of essential features that determine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4541"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14655,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541\/revisions\/14655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}