PHI 1101 Lecture Notes - Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, Fallacy, False Dilemma

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Iva Apostolova

Document Summary

A fallacy is any error in reasoning. Fallacies in this group involve premises that are not relevant to the conclusion they are meant to support. If we do not know something, then the point is often an important one to observe. The fallacy is based on the assumption that a statement must be true if it cannot be proven false, or vice-versa. The problem arises with the attempts to infer from the fact that we do not know the claims, the conclusion that they are either true or false. Instead of collecting evidence, we jump to conclusion. Different kinds of evidence: does not have to be a scientific one: we do not know that statement s is true, therefore, statement s is false. Not knowing could just be that you are lacking tools/materials to reason something (meaning it is not nonexistence ) while knowing something you have evidence/solid proof. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence! carl sagan, astronomer.