PHL137 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Menopause, Miscarriage, Abductive Reasoning
Document Summary
According to hume, all we ever see is the constant conjunction of one type of event with another- we recognise the pattern and come to expect they will continue to be conjoined in the same way. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc is latin for after this, therefore because of this . Occurs when someone assumes that because one event was followed by another, that the earlier one caused the later one. It arises out of a tendency humans have to try and make connections and build narratives in an attempt to make sense of experience. Superstitious thinking: breaking a mirror followed by some piece of bad luck. Beliefs about connection between the mmr vaccine and autism. Autism is often diagnosed at around the age the vaccine is given, and this pattern is taken by a lot of people to suggest a causal connection even though this is unsupported by scientific evidence.
