post hoc ergo propter hoc
(Latin, after this, so because of this) The fallacy of arguing that because one event happened after another, it happened because of it.
post hoc Reference library
Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (4 ed.)
...post hoc , ergo propter hoc , from Latin, ‘after this, therefore due to this’: a common logical fallacy of confusing consequence with sequence. On Sunday we prayed for rain; on Monday it rained; therefore the prayers caused the rain. Post hoc by itself means ‘after the event’ and is printed in roman type: this rhetoric offers a post hoc justification for the changes...
post hoc Quick reference
Fowler’s Concise Dictionary of Modern English Usage (3 ed.)
... hoc , ergo propter hoc means ‘after it and therefore because of it’, and refers to the fallacy of assuming that if event A is followed by event B, event B is caused by event A. (On Sunday we prayed for rain, and on Monday it rained. Therefore our prayers were answered.) It is printed in italic type. Post hoc by itself means ‘after the event’ (in Latin literally ‘after this’) and is printed in roman...
non sequitur Reference library
Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (4 ed.)
...premises (from Latin, literally ‘it does not follow’) is written as two separate words, unhyphenated, and printed in roman. Thus: It will be a hard winter, for holly-berries [which are meant as provision for birds in hard weather] are abundant. The reasoning called post hoc, ergo propter hoc is a form of non...
foreign words and phrases Quick reference
Fowler’s Concise Dictionary of Modern English Usage (3 ed.)
... détente ; double entendre ; ex officio ; fait accompli ; faux pas ; ibid .; ingénue ; inter alia ; jeu d’esprit ; laissez-faire ; materiel ; modus operandi ; modus vivendi ; petitio principii ; pièce de résistance ; pied-à-terre ; pietà ; pis aller ; post hoc, ergo propter hoc ; raison d’être ; reductio ad absurdum ; sine qua non ; ultra vires...
