Exceptionalism is the perception or belief that a species, country, society, institution, movement, individual, or time period is "

exceptional Exception(s), The Exception(s), or exceptional may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' The Exception'', a 2016 British film * ''The Exception'' (2006 novel), a Danish novel (orig. ''Undtagelsen'', 2004) by Christian Jungersen * ''The Excep ...

" (i.e., unusual or extraordinary). The term carries the implication, whether or not specified, that the referent is superior in some way. Although the idea appears to have developed with respect to an era, today it is particularly applied with respect to particular nations or regions. Other uses of the term include medical and genetic exceptionalism.

History

The German romantic philosopher-historians, especially

Johann Gottfried Herder Johann Gottfried von Herder ( ; ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a Prussian philosopher, theologian, pastor, poet, and literary critic. Herder is associated with the Age of Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism. He wa ...

(1744–1803) and

Johann Gottlieb Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte (; ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Ka ...

(1762–1814), dwelt on the theme of uniqueness in the late 18th century. They de-emphasized the political state and instead emphasized the uniqueness of the ''

Volk The German noun ''Volk'' () translates to :wikt:people, people, both uncountable in the sense of ''people'' as in a crowd, and countable (plural ''Völker'') in the sense of ''People, a people'' as in an ethnic group or nation (compare the E ...

'', comprising the whole people, their languages and traditions. Each nation, considered as a cultural entity with its own distinctive history, possessed a "national spirit", or "soul of the people" (in German: ''Volksgeist''). This idea had a strong influence in the growth of nationalism in 19th-century European lands—especially in ones ruled by élites from somewhere else. Claims of exceptionality have been made for many countries, including the United States, Australia (especially in South Australia), China, France, Germany, Greece, Pakistan, Imperial Japan, Iran, Serbia, Israel, North Korea, South Africa, Spain, the UK, the USSR, Thailand and Lebanon. Historians have added many other cases, including historic empires such as China, the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, and

ancient India Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...

, along with a wide range of minor kingdoms in history.

Criticism

Belief in exceptionalism can represent erroneous thought analogous to

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

in that it overemphasizes peculiarities in an analysis and ignores or downplays meaningful comparisons. A group may assert ''exceptionalism'' in order to exaggerate the appearance of difference, to invoke a wider latitude of action, and to avoid recognition of similarities that would reduce perceived justifications. This can be an example of

special pleading Special pleading is an informal fallacy wherein a person claims an exception to a general or universal principle, but the exception is unjustified. It applies a double standard. In the classic distinction among material fallacies, cognitive fa ...

, a form of spurious argumentation that ignores relevant bases for meaningful comparisons. Exceptionalism is often based on poor historical knowledge.

Separateness

J. Bradford DeLong has used the term "exceptionalism" to describe the economic growth of post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

. Exceptionalism can represent an error analogous to

in assuming that only peculiarities are relevant to analysis, while overlooking meaningful comparisons. Political scientist Noritada Matsuda writes, " at is seemingly exceptional in one country may be found in other countries." In ideologically-driven debates, a group may assert ''exceptionalism'', with or without the term, in order to exaggerate the appearance of difference, perhaps to create an atmosphere permissive of a wider latitude of action, and to avoid recognition of similarities that would reduce perceived justifications. If unwarranted, this represents an example of

, a form of spurious argumentation that ignores relevant bases for meaningful comparison. The term "exceptionalism" can imply criticism of a tendency to remain separate from others. For example, the reluctance of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

government to join various international treaties is sometimes called "exceptionalist".

Medical exceptionalism

Use of the term "

HIV exceptionalism HIV exceptionalism is the term given to the trend to treat HIV/AIDS in law and policy differently from other diseases, including other sexually transmitted, infectious, lethal diseases. The term first appeared in print in an article in the ''New E ...

" implies that AIDS is a contagious disease that is or should be treated differently from other contagions or entails benefits not available to those suffering from other diseases.

Notes

References

* George M. Fredrickson. "From Exceptionalism to Variability: Recent Developments in Cross-National Comparative History," ''Journal of American History,'' Vol. 82, No. 2 (Sep., 1995), pp. 587–60
in JSTOR
* Gallant, Thomas W. "Greek Exceptionalism and Contemporary Historiography: New Pitfalls and Old Debates," ''Journal of Modern Greek Studies,'' Volume 15, Number 2, October 1997, pp. 209–16 * Michael Kammen, "The Problem of American Exceptionalism: A Reconsideration," ''American Quarterly,'' Vol. 45, No. 1 (Mar., 1993), pp. 1–4
in JSTOR
* Seymour Martin Lipset, ''American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword'' (1996) * Lund, Joshua. "Barbarian Theorizing and the Limits of Latin American Exceptionalism," ''Cultural Critique,'' 47, Winter 2001, pp. 54–9

* Pei, Minxin. "The Puzzle of East Asian Exceptionalism," ''Journal of Democracy,'' Volume 5, Number 4, October 1994, pp. 90–103 * Thompson, Eric C. "Singaporean Exceptionalism and Its Implications for ASEAN Regionalism," ''Contemporary Southeast Asia,'' Volume 28, Number 2, August 2006, pp. 183–206.