It's a self-descriptive title for a particular kind of fallacy - as I
said of the 'non causa, pro causa' type
Which means 'no cause of the type proposed' I think.
The particular fallacy is known by that name.
In proper English you could call it the 'Forgot the Umbrella' Fallacy
'It always rains when I forget my umbrella so that must be what is
causing it.'
Latin is used for some of the oldest identified such as Aristotle's
thirteen.
It's a jargon of course, used to exclude the riff-raff.
Some are named after their classic example, like Flew's 'No True
scotsman' fallacy.
Or the delightful 'If by whiskey' fallacy, a wonderful piece of
sophistry.
There are so many Fallacies with so many confusing names that I may
have to wallpaper a classroom with them.
I'll have to break them down into groups - Formal, Informal, Red
Herring and so on.
The whole Fallacy business has got out of hand.
Philosophers use them like five-finger exercises.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 28/12/2007, at 6:05 PM, Chris Barker wrote:
> But presumably, Andrew, when you present your List of Fallacies to
> your students, it will be a list of individual fallacies rather than a
> general problem with logical reasoning; "post hoc ergo propter hoc" is
> just a general phrase rather than a particular fallacy.
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