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 ergo propter hoc Quick reference
A Dictionary of Philosophy (3 ed.)
... 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...
post hoc, ergo propter hoc Reference library
Garner's Modern English Usage (5 ed.)
... hoc, ergo propter hoc (L. “after this, therefore because of this”) denotes the fallacy of confusing sequence with consequence. E.g.: “The Feb. 5 Dispatch editorial linking the major decrease in the number of licensed gun dealers with a minor decrease in homicides illustrates the first fallacy taught in any logic course: post hoc, ergo propter hoc (after this, therefore because of this). The rooster’s crow does not cause the sun to rise.” Letter of Kevin Cantos , “Licensing Unrelated to Drop in Slayings,” Columbus Dispatch , 22 Feb. 1997 , at A11. ...
Post hoc ergo propter hoc Quick reference
Guide to Latin in International Law (2 ed.)
...Post hoc ergo propter hoc . pōst hōk ār´gō prōp´tērhōk . pōst hak ɜr´gō prap´tɜr hak. “After this, therefore because of this.” An expression of the logical fallacy wherein one infers from the fact that a later event follows a prior event that the prior event must therefore have caused the later one. E.g., “It is incorrect to claim that the United States is applying the suspension of concessions or other obligations ‘with respect to a new measure’ just because the United States continues to apply multilaterally authorized suspension of concessions or other...
post hoc, ergo propter hoc Reference library
Penelope Mackie
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (2 ed.)
... hoc, ergo propter hoc . ‘After this, therefore because of this.’ Strictly, the fallacy of inferring that one event is caused by another merely because it comes after it. More loosely, the fallacy (characteristic of superstitious beliefs) of assuming too readily that an event that follows another is caused by it without considering factors such as counter-evidence or the possibility of a common cause. ( Causality .) The name appears to derive from Aristotle's Rhetoric (1401 b 29–34). Dr Penelope Mackie H. W. B. Joseph , An Introduction to Logic , 2nd...
Propter hoc Quick reference
Guide to Latin in International Law (2 ed.)
...Propter hoc . prōp´tēr hōk . prap´tɜr hak. adj . “Because of this.” Because of the previously stated reason. See also Post hoc ergo propter hoc...
Fallacy Quick reference
The Oxford Companion to the English Language (2 ed.)
... Argumentum ad populum [Latin: argument directed at the people]. An appeal to popular opinion, bias, and inclination. (4) Non sequitur [Latin: it does not follow]. A statement in which the premisses of an argument do not lead to the conclusion provided. (5) Post hoc ergo propter hoc [Latin: after this therefore because of this]. Asserting that because A came before B, A caused B. ...
Post 1 Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
... 1 (Latin, ‘after’) Post factum (Latin) After the act has been committed. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc (Latin) After this, therefore because of this. The phrase is expressive of the fallacy that because one thing follows another, the former is the cause of the latter. Because a man drinks a glass of beer and then falls over it does not follow that the beer was the cause of his fall. He may have tripped or slipped. Post-Impressionism The name applied to the phase of painting that followed impressionism . The chief exponents were Paul Cézanne ( 1839–1906 ), ...
consequent Reference library
Garner's Modern English Usage (5 ed.)
... Paul Donohue , “First Step for Stroke,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch , 11 Dec. 1996 , Everyday Mag. §, at E2. • “Health professionals also are questioning the closure of the state’s mental health hospital and the consequent impact on both patients and mainstream health services.” Greg Hall , “Closure of Ashley May Prove Costly,” Mercury (Hobart, Aus.), 28 Sept. 2021 , 15. Consequent is sometimes misused for subsequent , perhaps partly because of the logical fallacy post hoc, ergo propter hoc (“after this, therefore because of this”)—a trap for...
Ceely, Robert (17 Jan 1930) Reference library
Barbara A. Petersen and Ilana R. Schroeder
The Grove Dictionary of American Music (2 ed.)
...Bottom Dogs, 4 db, 1980; Pf Piece, 1980; Roundels, wind, tape, 1981; Pf Variations, 1981–2; Totems, ob, tape, 1982; Dialogues, fl, 1983; Giostra, ob, pf, 1984; Pianetude, pf, 1984; Pitch Dark, jazz ens, 1984; Timeshares, perc ens, 1988; Pitch Dark, big band, 1989; Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, b cl, 1989; Fanfare: Oh 1 to 5, brass qnt, 1992; Auros, ob, cl, pf, vn, vc, 1997; Triple Double, ob, eng hn, bn, tape, 1999; 3 Satires, orch, 2002; 2 Pieces for Str Qt, 2003; A Piano Miscellany, pf, 2006; Group Sax, s sax, a sax, t sax, bar sax, 2006; Duel, b cl, pf,...
Topos Reference library
O. B. Hardison and E. H. Behler
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (4 ed.)
...of subsequent texts. The term is first used in a technical sense in cl. rhet., where it is treated under invention and refers to a standard line of argument based on generally accepted logical probabilities such as “possible or impossible” or “greater or lesser” or “post hoc ergo propter hoc” or “a fortiori,” as when it is argued, e.g., that, since Achilles gave in to wrath, it is not surprising that ordinary citizens sometimes do so too. Topoi can be specific to a certain type of discourse—demonstrative, legal, or epideictic—or common to all types. The...
causality Reference library
Penelope Mackie
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (2 ed.)
...facts cannot, strictly speaking, be causes, although they are relevant to causal explanation. What is distinctive of pairs of events related as cause and effect? Obviously, it is not sufficient , for an event to cause another, that the second happen after the first. ( Post hoc, ergo propter hoc .) Further, it has been argued that this is not even necessary, and that both simultaneous causation and ‘backwards causation’ (effects preceding their causes) are at least conceptually possible. This poses a problem. Causality appears to be an asymmetric relation (if...
Herodotus Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt
...willingness to admit Egyptian cultural priority in many areas, and there is a pervasive conviction that numerous elements in Greek civilization derived from Egypt, particularly in the sphere of religion. This conviction is based on little more than the operation of the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy: that is, if something in Egypt resembles something in Greece, it is argued that it must have come from Egypt because Egyptian civilization is so much older. The result is that many erroneous claims are made, but this has not prevented Herodotus's assertions and...
Origins of Islamic Law Reference library
Walter Edward Young
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World: Digital Collection
...dynamic of dialectical disputation, and, most importantly, the avoidance of unsupported assumptions and formal/informal fallacies (common to the field are e silentio and argumentum ad ignorantiam [often linked]; cum / post hoc ergo propter hoc ; apriorism; priority; sweeping and hasty generalizations; dysfunctional reductions and exclusions; and special pleading with regard to sources). ...
Fallacies Reference library
Encyclopedia of Rhetoric
...known as begging the question or circular reasoning ). Aristotle's Prior Analytics contains additional remarks, and in Rhetoric , Aristotle discusses a selection from the fallacies compiled in Sophistical Refutations , referring also to the fallacy now known as post hoc ergo propter hoc (“after this, therefore on account of this”). [ See Dialectic .] In Sophistical Refutations , Aristotle distinguishes thirteen different types of incorrect refutations and indicates how these false moves can be parried. He divides the dialectical fallacies into two...
Postcolonialism Reference library
George Heffernan
The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine
...of the Roman Empire nor the fall of the city of Rome is etiologically related to ‘Christian times’ ( tempora Christiana : 1.1, 1.7, 1.15, 1.30, 1.33, 3.22–3, 3.31, 5.22, 13.19; s . 81.7–9, 105.8, 296.9). The inference post hoc ergo propter hoc is a fallacy. From the foundation of the city, according to Aug., Rome flourished by waging unjust wars ( civ . 2.18). To say that the Roman Empire had to be extended by constant war is to beg the question whether...
Atonement and Reconciliation Reference library
Sibylle Rolf
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther
...WA 40/II:370, 19–21: “Est itaque mirabilis haec definitio Christianae iustitiae, quod sit imputatio seu reputatio divina pro iustitia vel ad iustitiam propter fidem in Christum vel propter Christum” (LW 26:233). 38. Such external attribution could be suggested by the distinction between effective and forensic justification, in which the imputatio comes to be on the side of forensic justification. In post-Lutheran theology, the distinction between forensic and effective justification plays a much larger role than it does with Luther, for whom neither aspect...
Lutheran Orthodoxy Reference library
Andreas Stegmann
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther
...fuisset, ut Evangelium confiteretur, non praecipisset ei Paulus, ne ipsum puderet Pauli, non quidem quoad personam, sed ut propter Evangelium vincti. Si ergo Timotheus dixisset, Ego non assentior Paulo, nec Petro, sed Christo, non ignarus, quod Petrus & Paulus Christum docerent, hoc ipso Christum abnegasset, quia Christus de illis, qui eum praedicant, inquit Luc. 10. v. 16. Qui vos suscipit, me suscipit; qui vos spernit, me spernit. Cur hoc? quia ut nuncios ejus, qui verbum ejus afferunt, tractant, perinde est, ac si ipse & verbum ejus tractetur[’]”: Gerhard, ...
Commercial Policy Reference library
Capie Forrest, D. Dye Alan, and Tilly Richard
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History
...suggest that the Zollverein embodied both of the customs union effects mentioned above. More than sixty years ago, however, the economic historian, Sir John Clapham , warned that the Zollverein 's alleged contribution to industrialization was subject to the fallacy post hoc ergo propter hoc . More recent research has confirmed Clapham's scepticism: the foundations of German industrialization were being laid well before the Zollverein was born; and the factors driving that industrialization—the application of new, imported technologies, the accumulation of...
Psychology and Security Reference library
Jonathan Mercer
The International Studies Encyclopedia
...interpretations of new information. Jervis ( 1976 ) emphasized how predispositions influence learning and noted that people typically pay more attention to what happened rather than why it happened: “Thus learning is superficial, overgeneralized, and based on post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning” ( 1976 :228). Decision makers tend to associate dramatic causes with dramatic events, to attribute cause to whatever is most salient, to overemphasize one’s own role in an outcome, to pay little attention to nonevents (such as wars that do not happen), and to...
Polemicist, Luther as Reference library
Thomas Kaufmann
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Martin Luther
...Bienert , Martin Luther und die Juden (Frankfurt: Evangelisches Verlagswerk, 1982); for analysis of perspectives of comparisons see Kaufmann, “Luthers Sicht auf Judentum und Islam.” 78. WA 30/II:186, 27; cf. 186, 15ff. 79. “Ergo eadem fides Turcae et papae et Iudaeorum. Nam quando dicitur: homo per opera fit salvus, est contra hoc ec. Nisi quod papa servat den deckel und lests Evangelium predigen, Turcam palam impugnat.” WA 29:612, 17–20. 80. WA 53:601, 18–20; 468, 30ff, and 479, 24ff; WA 30/II:116, 32ff. 81. WA 53:528, 11ff; 530, 24ff, and 531, 3–4; WA...
