Post hoc reasoning is related to [magical thinking]?, connecting two things that have no actual or logical connection. |
A non-controversial example is "I just washed my car; of course it's going to rain." Rain isn't caused by car-washing, but the car owner connects the two events. The person down the street didn't wash her car, and it's raining on her too. Post hoc reasoning is related to [magical thinking]?, connecting two things that have no actual or logical connection, as well as [/Correlation does not imply causation]?. |
This fallacy assumes, or asserts, that if one thing happens after another, the first must be the cause of the second. It's a particularly subtle, and tempting, error because temporal sequence is basic to causality.
A non-controversial example is "I just washed my car; of course it's going to rain." Rain isn't caused by car-washing, but the car owner connects the two events. The person down the street didn't wash her car, and it's raining on her too.
Post hoc reasoning is related to [magical thinking]?, connecting two things that have no actual or logical connection, as well as [/Correlation does not imply causation]?.