casuist

[ kazh-oo-ist ]

/ ˈkæʒ u ɪst /

an oversubtle or disingenuous reasoner, especially in questions of morality.

a person who studies and resolves moral problems of judgment or conduct arising in specific situations.

Origin of casuist

1600–10; < Spanish casuista < Latin cāsu(s) case¹ + -ista -ist

Henry, however, was a casuist concerned exclusively with his own case.

Henry VIII. |A. F. Pollard
Many others are put so as to suggest what the casuist never said, that is a special case is made a general rule of morals.

The Jesuits, 1534-1921 |Thomas J. Campbell
Except when it's a case of selling patent medicines, I'm not a casuist.

A Prairie Courtship |Harold Bindloss
Mr. Hudson was a casuist, as indeed are ninety-nine men out of a hundred in these matters.

The Threatening Eye |Edward Frederick Knight

He is to be read as a story-teller rather than as a poet, as a casuist rather than as a philosopher.

Four Arthurian Romances |Chretien DeTroyes

casuist

/ (ˈkæzjʊɪst) /

a person, esp a theologian, who attempts to resolve moral dilemmas by the application of general rules and the careful distinction of special cases

a person who is oversubtle in his or her analysis of fine distinctions; sophist

casuistic or casuistical, adjective casuistically, adverb

C17: from French casuiste, from Spanish casuista, from Latin cāsus case 1