Tag Archives: correlation fallacies

When can correlation equal causation?

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Fallacy Man

“Correlation does not equal causation.” It is a phrase that everyone has probably heard, but many people seem to ignore or misunderstand it. Indeed, although useful, the phrase itself can be misleading because it often leads to the misconception that … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science, Rules of Logic | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Measles is not better than autism: Debunking anti-vaccine arguments

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Fallacy Man

Over the weekend, I was unfortunate enough to come across an article by Jaclyn Harwell at “Modern Alternative Health” called “5 Reasons That Measles is Better Than Autism.” Unsurprisingly, it was full of misinformation and shoddy arguments. Indeed, it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , | 106 Comments

Global warming isn’t natural, and here’s how we know

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Fallacy Man

The cornerstone argument of climate change deniers is that our current warming is just a natural cycle, and this claim is usually accompanied by the statement, “the planet has warmed naturally before.” This line of reasoning is, however, seriously flawed … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming | Tagged , , , , , , , | 37 Comments

Vaccines and autism: A thorough review of the evidence

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Fallacy Man

UPDATE March 2019: Since writing this post, anti-vaccer’s lists have grown and several new studies have been published. Therefore, I wrote an updated version of this article which you can read here. The evidence that vaccines don’t cause autism has … Continue reading →

Posted in Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 125 Comments

Basic Statistics Part 2: Correlation vs. Causation

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Fallacy Man

Updated with additional sources on 16-June-16 It is fairly widely known that correlation does not inherently indicate causation. In fact, inappropriately asserting causation is a logical fallacy known simply as a correlation fallacy. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science | Tagged , | 2 Comments