Questionable cause
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The questionable cause—also known as causal fallacy, false cause, or non causa pro causa ("non-cause for cause" in Latin)—is a category of informal fallacies in which a cause is incorrectly identified.
For example: "Every time I go to sleep, the sun goes down. Therefore, my going to sleep causes the sun to set." The two events may coincide, but have no causal connection.[1]
Fallacies of questionable cause include:
- Circular cause and consequence[citation needed]
- Correlation implies causation (cum hoc, ergo propter hoc)
- Third-cause fallacy
- Wrong direction
- Fallacy of the single cause
- Post hoc ergo propter hoc
- Regression fallacy
- Texas sharpshooter fallacy
- Jumping to conclusions
- Association fallacy
- Reductio ad hitlerum
References[]
- ^ "Questionable Cause". logicallyfallacious.com. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
External links[]
- Non causa pro causa in the Fallacy Files by Gary N. Curtis
Categories:
- Causal fallacies
- Informal fallacies