Casuistry /(?)/

Cas·u·ist·ry

Casuistry

a.
  1. The science or doctrine of dealing with cases of conscience, of resolving questions of right or wrong in conduct, or determining the lawfulness or unlawfulness of what a man may do by rules and principles drawn from the Scriptures, from the laws of society or the church, or from equity and natural reason; the application of general moral rules to particular cases.
    The consideration of these nice and puzzling question in the science of ethics has given rise, in modern times, to a particular department of it, distinguished by the title of casuistry.
    — Stewart.
    Casuistry in the science of cases (i.e., oblique deflections from the general rule).
  2. Sophistical, equivocal, or false reasoning or teaching in regard to duties, obligations, and morals.