When arguing, knowing how to recognize logical fallacies in your own or your opponent’s line of thinking can be the key to victory. One common example of a logical fallacy is known by the latin Post hoc ergo propter hoc and more commonly as “correlation is not causation”.

This fallacy is characterized by the assumption that because “A” preceded “B”, “A” is therefore the cause of “B”, regardless of the other possible causes. For example:

Mary has cancer.

Mary’s friends and family pray for her to get better.

Mary’s cancer goes into remission.

Mary, her friends, and her family conclude that prayer cured Mary’s cancer.

The fallacy here is the assumption that because Mary’s cancer went into remission after her loved ones prayed for her, their prayers were the cause of her remission. There are innumerable other reasons that could be the true cause, (chemo, radiation therapy, or an altogether unknown factor) but they have chosen to believe that their intervention was the key to her cure. This fallacy is often tied to the wishful thinking of the proponent, he wants “A” to have caused “B”, so he accepts it unquestioningly as the reason for “B”.

Remember to look for logical fallacies in your own, as well as your opponent’s arguements, and you will have much more productive debates.

Similar Posts:

• Logical Fallacies: The Argument from Authority
• What is Gene Therapy?
• Yuko Hair Straightening
• Change the Way You Look With Breast Augmentation
• Ways To Get Ex Spouse Together Again