T613, how does an exception prove a rule? Wouldn’t a rule be stronger if there were no exceptions?
A common misunderstanding.
The way we use the word “prove” today would mean that when you finally find an exception, then you know the rule is true. Of course, that’s logically inconsistent because, if you find an exception, then the rule is not a rule. So how did this phrase originate?
The answer is that when the phrase was coined, “prove” had a different meaning. “Prove” meant “to test.” So to “prove a rule” actually meant to test it. You would use an exception to try to test whether or not the rule was true.
The Wolf