Casuistry

 Casuistry (cas·u·ist·ry/ KAZH-ew-iss-tree) 

Clever but unsound reasoning claiming to resolve moral problems by applying theoretical rules to new situations.

Derived from the Latin noun casus, meaning “case,” the word originally referred to a “case of conscience.” From its earliest origins, it was used to unmask deceptive moralizing that attempts to exploit rational argument, defend untenable conclusions, and validate intellectual bias.

The proliferation of casuistry is all around us—on social media, in business strategies, and in what passes for political debate. Once we’ve concluded that we already know the answers to our questions, we enter the world of decision-based facts, heedless of the obvious truism that successful outcomes rest on a foundation of fact-based decisions.