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The fallacy of the single cause, also known as complex cause, causal oversimplification, [1] causal reductionism, root cause fallacy, and reduction fallacy, [2] is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of an outcome when in reality it may have been caused by a number of only jointly sufficient causes.
It asserts that X causes Y when in reality, both X and Y are caused by Z. It is a variation on the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy and a member of the questionable cause group of fallacies. All of those examples deal with a lurking variable, which is simply a hidden third variable that affects both of the variables observed to be correlated.
The questionable cause—also known as causal fallacy, false cause, or non causa pro causa ("non-cause for cause" in Latin)—is a category of informal fallacies in which the cause or causes is/are incorrectly identified. In other words, it is a fallacy of reaching a conclusion that one thing caused another, simply because they are regularly ...
A logical fallacy of the questionable cause variety, it is subtly different from the fallacy cum hoc ergo propter hoc ('with this, therefore because of this'), in which two events occur simultaneously or the chronological ordering is insignificant or unknown. Post hoc is a logical fallacy in which one event seems to be the cause of a later ...
Pages in category "Causal fallacies" The following 29 pages are in this category, out of 29 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. ...
Fallacy of the single cause (causal oversimplification [60]) – it is assumed that there is one, simple cause of an outcome when in reality it may have been caused by a number of only jointly sufficient causes. Furtive fallacy – outcomes are asserted to have been caused by the malfeasance of decision makers.
Causal reasoning is the process of identifying causality: the relationship between a cause and its effect. The study of causality extends from ancient philosophy to contemporary neuropsychology ; assumptions about the nature of causality may be shown to be functions of a previous event preceding a later one.
Fallacy of the single cause – Assumption of a single cause where multiple factors may be necessary; Causality – How one process influences another; Cognitive dissonance – Stress from contradiction between beliefs and actions; Just-world fallacy – Hypothesis that a person's actions will have morally fair and fitting consequences