Tag Archives: post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacies

The importance of logical fallacies

As anyone who frequents this blog knows, I spend a lot of time talking about logical fallacies. I frequently criticize peoples’ arguments for having them, and I present them as a reason for rejecting particular lines of thought. Nevertheless, many … Continue reading

Posted in Rules of Logic | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Vaccine injuries and confirmation biases

Humans are remarkably bad at accurately discerning patterns. All of us (skeptics included) are prone to confirmation biases and logical flaws in reasoning. We don’t like to be wrong, and, as a result, we tend to cling to things that … Continue reading

Posted in Rules of Logic, Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Debunking anti-vaccine arguments: VAERS, package inserts, and the VICP do not prove that vaccines are dangerous

If you spend any time talking to those who oppose vaccines, you will likely hear them cite the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), vaccine package inserts, and the national Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) as evidence that vaccines are … Continue reading

Posted in Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Why are there so many reports of autism following vaccination? A mathematical assessment

The idea that vaccines cause autism is one of the most persistent myths that I have ever encountered, and it seems that no amount of evidence will ever cause it to disappear. Indeed, I recently wrote a lengthy post in … Continue reading

Posted in Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , | 72 Comments

Vaccines and autism: A thorough review of the evidence

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