3 ms·

... That's not the flipside, that's the "exception to the rule". Of course the system's not perfect, but people don't live way longer now because our medicine

• StrictDabbler 4y ago
  "The exception proves the rule" refers to a logical/legal situation where a rule has been posted with specific exceptions. A sign that says "no parking on Sundays" logically implies that parking is allowed all other days. The concept you're looking for is closer to "any statistical group has outlier cases".
  • nawgz 4y ago
    I did not use the word "proves"; the "exception to the rule" fallacy is when you see a singular case violating some rule and you use that to assume the rule doesn't hold in general, or you make generalizations from a singular case. The commenter I'm replying to is advocating for homeo- / naturo-pathy because of some statistically insignificant and probably actually not causally based relationship they've witnessed, which is generalizing from a ~singular case