Explanation
An exemplum introduces a past deed, saying, or transmitted event into a present argument in order to illustrate, render plausible, or support a claim. A named agent, historical memory, or cultural familiarity may lend the case additional weight. Its argumentative force, however, does not arise from vividness alone. The particular case must be comparable with the present question in a relevant respect; otherwise a memorable story becomes a distraction. Exemplum moves thought from concrete event toward general judgement and back again. It embodies a possibility while leaving open how far one instance may legitimately be generalised, and thus joins imaginative accessibility with an obligation to test analogy and evidence.
Movement of thought
1. A general question or claim calls for a concrete configuration. 2. A past case is introduced with its action, situation, and possible authority. 3. The account foregrounds features that appear comparable with the present question. 4. Counterexamples and differences test the reach and strength of the analogy. 5. The particular case returns as a limited but vivid orientation for general judgement.
Scientific use case
Argumentation analysis can separately code source, authority, dimension of comparison, and inferred conclusion. Historical verification and counterexamples show whether an exemplum proves, merely illustrates, or overextends one case.
Example
When an early design failed, a cartographer preserved its discarded lines. The case illustrates how documented wrong turns can later open paths of discovery.
Counterexample
A general claim without a particular case is not an exemplum. An anecdote does not become reliable evidence when its relevant conditions are not comparable with the situation under judgement.
Distinction
Distinguish exemplum from anecdote, analogy, induction, and appeal to authority. It is a rhetorically deployed particular case whose illustrative or evidential function and comparability require separate examination.
Effect on thought and perception
The exemplum gives abstract reasoning a memorable concrete form and can make possibilities, consequences, and dispositions visible in one case.
Resonance
A past action enters a new question; its reverberation orients the present without fully determining its answer.
Cite this entry
Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Exemplum“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-RHE-209-001. ATLAS 260, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-RHE-209-001The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.
Historical background
Bullinger distinguishes using an example during an argument from ending with an example that functions as a precedent to follow or avoid. His chosen scriptural instance turns a remembered person’s fate into a concluding warning. This narrow account does not exhaust the much broader historical traditions of moral, judicial or medieval exempla. It does, however, provide a precise nineteenth-century witness for one way of making a case exemplary: a narrative becomes a model for present action. The Atlas should accordingly separate illustration from normative transfer. A case can make an abstract claim easier to understand without proving that a new situation is relevantly similar. The historical entry invites the reader to inspect that transfer rather than treating the vividness of the example as sufficient justification.
How conceptual history changes the analysis
An example may clarify a claim or recommend action. Identify which features of the precedent matter to the present case. Vividness alone does not justify transferring the same response.