Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Fallacy

You have heard Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Fallacy at a dinner table, perhaps from an uncle, perhaps from yourself. It is a common family inheritance.

The fallacy survives because it is comfortable. It lets you keep your conclusion and skip the work. The cure is unfashionable: slow down, ask what the evidence actually shows, and let the conclusion follow.

A good librarian is a quiet revolutionary. She knows that a child with a borrowing card and a long afternoon is more dangerous to ignorance than any syllabus.

Learning is the one wealth that survives every partition of fortune. You will meet this idea again this week, wearing different clothes. Now you will recognise it.