Sweeping generalization (accident fallacy)

Biological Parallel

The rule 'warmer temperatures accelerate growth' holds for most organisms—until it doesn't. Arctic cod produce antifreeze proteins that stop working above 4°C; warming kills them not despite the rule, but because of their specialized adaptation to cold. Phenotypic plasticity exists precisely because universal rules ignore context. When ecologists say 'species require X,' they mean 'most populations under most conditions,' not an invariant law. Biological exceptions aren't rule violations—they reveal how context shapes outcomes.