Special Pleading
A proponent of a position attempts to cite something as an exemption to a generally accepted rule or principle without justifying the exemption.
Origin
Part of the broader study of logical fallacies pioneered by Aristotle in De Sophisticis Elenchis (Sophistical Refutations), written around 350 BCE, where he identified thirteen fallacies divided into linguistic and non-linguistic categories. Special pleading occurs when an individual applies standards, principles, or rules to others while exempting themselves or their claims from those same standards without justification. The specific term emerged in modern logic and rhetoric scholarship as practitioners formalized the classification of informal fallacies. Aristotle emphasized in his Rhetoric how such argumentation undermines logos (logical appeal) and erodes speaker credibility.