The Birth of Fallacies

It is an accepted fact that good writing is essential in the preparation of a dissertation. Good writing is insufficient, however, to compensate for a lack of or flaw in the candidate’s ideas or concepts. Proper research, planning and organization of the relevant data can help reveal weaknesses in the doctoral process, but many times such weaknesses are not revealed until the candidate begins actually writing the dissertation.

What is a Fallacy?

One significant weakness for dissertation authors is logical fallacies showing up within their dissertations. A fallacy is a statement or material understanding that, upon extended scrutiny, is shown to have a significant flaw in its assumptions.

Post Hoc

In legal environments there is a particular concept called “post hoc ergo prompter hoc.” Translated, this phrase means “after this, therefore because of this.” It relates to the assumption in many cases that the action, or inaction, of the defendant caused a legally injurious event or circumstance. In preparing a dissertation, the author must also be aware of this concept and carefully distinguish between simple statistical correlations and true cause-effect relationships. This distinction is at the heart of, for example, the debate on the causes of global warming (contrary to the claim of some individuals and organizations, the fact that global warming is occurring is a scientifically accepted event, though its causes are still subject to debate). The fundamental flaw in post hoc arguments is the claim that, due to a correlation between two sets of data, one must be related to the other with the general assumption that one is causing the other. This does not follow in that, depending on the underlying truth, both sets of data may be relational, but caused by a third set of as yet unidentified influences.