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Simple English definitions for legal terms
post hoc
Read a random definition: United States district courts
A quick definition of post hoc:
Post hoc is a fancy way of saying "after this, therefore because of this." It's a mistake to assume that just because one thing happened before another, the first thing caused the second thing. For example, if a dog barked and then the power went out, it doesn't mean the dog caused the power outage just because the bark came first.
A more thorough explanation:
Post hoc is a Latin phrase that means "after this, therefore because of this." It is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone assumes that one thing caused another just because the first thing happened before the second thing.
For example, if someone says, "I wore my lucky socks and then my team won the game, so my lucky socks must have caused the win," they are committing the post hoc fallacy. Just because they wore their lucky socks before the game doesn't mean the socks caused the win.
Another example could be, "I took a new vitamin supplement and then my headache went away, so the supplement must have cured my headache." This is also a post hoc fallacy because there could be other reasons why the headache went away.
It's important to be aware of the post hoc fallacy because it can lead to false conclusions and beliefs. Just because two things happen in sequence doesn't mean that one caused the other.