Fallacy of the single cause
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.
Fallacy of the single cause can be logically reduced to: "X caused Y; therefore, X was the only cause of Y" (although A,B,C...etc. also contributed to Y.)[2]
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 xor B xor C" when "A and B and C" or "A and B and not C" (etc.) are not taken into consideration; i.e. the "or" is not exclusive.[citation needed]
See also
- List of cognitive biases
- List of fallacies
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- Essentialism – View that entities have identifying attributes, which can be confused for causes
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."R. Paul Wilson On: The Oversimplification Fallacy". Casino.org. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Causal Reductionism". Retrieved 6 October 2012.
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