 The fallacy of accident is the first of the fallacies described by Aristotle in De Sophisticis Elenchis as those “independent of language,” and discussed at some length in ch.24. The classic example is the Hidden Man puzzle: you know your father (or Coriscus), your father (or Coriscus) is the man approaching, but you don’t know the man approaching (since he is wearing a mask, or too far away to recognise, etc.). Aristotle’s diagnosis was that one or more of the two properties attached to Coriscus (being known by you and being the man approaching) is accidental (or incidental) to him and so there is no essential connection to support inferring the conclusion from the premises. 