Faulty Causality

Faulty Causality Examples

Here are some more examples of the use of faulty causality to explain things that are correlated. Notice how each argument sounds logical, and how difficult it might be to oppose it unless you attack the questionable causal connection.

This argument sees the connection between marijuana and heroin use and blames marijuana for heroin addiction. However, isn’t it possible that there are more factors at play? Isn’t it possible that the same population would still try heroin even if marijuana wasn’t available?

Maxim blames the failure of his new marriage on his dead wife. While it's true the memory of her caused strife, is it logical or fair to blame their downward spiral on Rebecca? Or is it possible that they made some mistakes with regard to communication and openness? This is a case of faulty causality; it's easier to blame a dead woman for causing his marriage to fail rather than to examine his own actions and shortcomings.

Effects of Faulty Causality

Logical fallacies often appear correct or appeal to people’s desire for a particular conclusion to be right. As a result, these errors in logic can seduce people into believing they are true. Faulty causality is no exception.

Fig. 1 - It wouldn't be unusual to hear an example of faulty causality in a variety of professional settings.

Questionable cause fallacies are known to generate superstitions among people.

You may be familiar with a brand of superstition that says, “If I _______, then _______ will happen.”

The belief that a particular action—in this case, wearing a pair of socks—will cause something unrelated to happen is a case of faulty causation. There is no causal connection between these two things, but people appreciate a causal formula for things they can’t easily control.

Another consequence of faulty causality is simply arriving at incorrect conclusions. In the example with the lucky socks, if the student relies solely on wearing the socks to pass an exam—instead of, say, diligent study—they are likely to fail the exam. Their conclusion (i.e., wear the socks, pass the exam) is incorrect.

The medical community can be guilty of questionable causal logic at times. This is because medicine is constantly looking for the causes of health problems, and in an effort to bring relief to people, some medical professionals have been known to claim a causal relationship where there was none. This results in misdiagnoses, which can have serious implications for patients.

This is an example of misdiagnosis due to a false causal assumption (and outdated medical methods). John, the husband in The Yellow Wallpaper, believes a mild hysteria is the cause of his wife’s anxiety, and she will be cured with rest. Because of his failure to properly identify the true cause of her depression, he drives her to insanity.

Faulty Causal Reasoning

Faulty causal reasoning typically starts with the desire to find a reason why things happen; most people want to feel like they have the answers to the question, “Why?”

In the search to identify an answer, someone might look to whatever happened just prior to the effect to provide a cause.

The truth is that whenever event A happens just before event B, this is a good starting place to begin investigating a causal relationship. However, that’s all it is—a starting place. The average person doesn’t have enough time or data to conduct the necessary research, which is why many people fall back on faulty causal reasoning as a rhetorical crutch. “It can’t be coincidence,” they might say. It’s easier to deny the possibility of a coincidence than to pursue the course of proving causation.

This is a case of faulty inductive reasoning.

Inductive reasoning tries to establish generalized concepts based on a limited body of evidence. People use inductive reasoning all the time without realizing it. Faulty causal reasoning is a misstep in induction.

Difference Between Faulty Analogy and Faulty Causality

Another mistake in inductive reasoning is faulty analogy. While faulty causality believes that A causes B simply because it follows A, faulty analogy is a different type of logical fallacy.

Fig. 2 - "It's like comparing apples and oranges" is a popular saying that illustrates the trouble of faulty analogies.

Both faulty analogy and faulty causation are informal logical fallacies—which means the error is due to the content or context of the argument, not the way it was formed—but faulty analogy is based on comparison.

This is a faulty analogy known as the "watchmaker analogy." For an analogy to be true, the things you’re comparing must be alike in several significant ways. Unfortunately, a watch and the universe do not share many significant similarities, so to compare them in this light is a logical fallacy.