#Philosophy Archives - Page 19 of 26

Fate decides our future? Or, is it something else?

I mean, is anyone or anything deciding anything? Or is all of this without sense?

For fate is an odd thing.

First, you have to decide if you are stardust without free-will, or if you are something more, with agency and meaning.

There are large implications here to which one you choose.

Ethics does not arise from determinism, no matter how much you wish it would.?

And there is even something poetic about which way destiny tilts.

Maybe even in death?

Providence determined how I would say goodbye.

-Patti Smith, Just Kids

Post hoc ergo propter hoc is a Latin phrase.

It means: “After, therefore, because of.”

And it is a logical fallacy that is easy to fall for.

Basically, it means that X happens, and then Y happens.
After the fact, you grasp your pearls and conclude that X caused Y.

It might be true, but probably not.

For example, if I cough and then the lights all go out, should we conclude that my cough caused it?

Like I said, it might be true, but probably not.

What another?

Oil prices go above $100 per barrel, and then the incumbent party is voted out of Congress.

Did the change in oil prices cause it? It’s hard to know for sure.

The problem is that this is literally all that is reported in the financial news.

I don’t know if it is the best fallacy, but it is my favorite one.