| Fallacy Of The Single Cause |
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| causal fallacies | |
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Often after a tragedy it is asked, "What was ''the'' cause of this?" Such language implies that there is one cause, when instead there were probably a large number of contributing factors. However, having produced a list of several contributing factors, it may be worthwhile to look for a single cause underlying several of those factors. For instance, after a School Shooting , editorialists debate whether it was caused by the shooter's parents, TV violence, stress on students, Hollywood or the accessibility of guns. In fact many different causes including some of those may all have necessarily contributed. What ''caused'' the September 11, 2001 Attacks is another prominent topic of discussion that may invoke this fallacy. The fallacy was portrayed in an episode of The Simpsons , " Much Apu About Nothing ", in which Apu takes a citizenship test: :Proctor: All right, here's your last question. What was the cause of the Civil War? :Apu: Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists, there were economic factors, both domestic and inter-- :Proctor: Wait, wait... just say slavery. :Apu: Slavery it is, sir. Causal oversimplification is a specific kind of False Dilemma where conjoint possibilities are ignored. In other words, the possible causes are assumed to be "A or B or C" when "A and B and C" or "A and B and not C" (etc.) are not taken into consideration. ''See also:'' Joint Effect . |
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