Post Hoc Kelsy Mullins

Definition Post Hoc- the fallacy of assuming that temporal succession is evidence of causal relation. A fallacy in which one event is said to be the cause of a later event simply because it occurred earlier.

The Cause of Malaria When malaria was first found out to be an actual disease, people had trouble identifying what the cause of it was. Many people who contracted the disease had been outside during night hours at the time the disease was transferred. Naturally the people then came to the conclusion that malaria was received through the night air.

Explanation "Malaria was for centuries a baffling plague. It was observed that persons who went out at night often developed the malady. So, on the best post hoc reasoning, night air was assumed to be the cause of malaria, and elaborate precautions were taken to shut it out of sleeping quarters. Some scientists, however, were skeptical of this theory. A long series of experiments eventually proved that malaria was caused by the bite of the anopheles mosquito. Night air entered the picture only because mosquitoes preferred to attack in the dark." (Stuart Chase, Guides to Straight Thinking. Harper, 1956)

The Crucible Example 1 “I never knew it before. I never knew anything before. When she come into the court I say to myself, I must not accuse this woman, for she sleep in ditches, and so very old and poor… But then… then she sit there, denying and denying, and I feel a misty coldness climbin’ up my back, and the skin on my skull begin to creep, and I feel a clamp around my neck and I cannot breathe air; and then… I hear a voice, a screamin’ voice, and it were my voice… and all at once I remembered everything she done to me!” (Act 2,195)

Example 1 Cont. This is an example of Post Hoc because Mary Warren had never realized that anything that Sarah Good had done to her were intentional until Good was accused of witch craft then Mary Warren seemed to have connected all the dots in thinking that these things happened because Sarah Good cursed her.

The Crucible Example 2 “That bloody mongrel Walcott charge her. Y’see, he buy a pig of my wife four or five year ago, and the pig died soon after. So he come dancin’ in for his money back. So my Martha she says to him, ‘Walcott, if you haven’t the wit to feed a pig properly, you’ll not live to own many,’ she says. Now she goes to court and claims that from that day to this he cannot keep a pig alive for more than four weeks because my Martha bewitch them with her books!” (Act 2, 201)

Example 2 Cont. This is an example of Post Hoc because Walcott believes that because the one pig that he had bought from Martha died and many afterward got sick that Martha had cursed him so he wouldn’t be able to raise any more pigs.

References Dictionary.com. N.p.,n.d. Web. 16 Mar Chadwick, Ian. “Scripturient: Blog & Commentary.” Scripturient Blog Commentery. N.p.,n.d. Web. 16 Mar Nordquist, Richard. “Post Hoc- Definition and Examples of the Logical Fallacy.” N.p.,n.d. Web. 16 Mar