Animistic fallacy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The animistic fallacy is the logical fallacy of arguing that an event or situation is evidence that someone consciously acted to cause it. The name of the fallacy comes from the animistic belief that changes in the natural world are the work of conscious spirits.

The fallacy is sometimes presented as the question "Who benefits?" followed by an answer identifying the presumed culprit.

  • "Prices fell today. Short-sellers must have driven them down."
  • "There have been several riots this year. Our enemies must be stirring up discontent among the population."
  • "The world exists. Someone must have created it."


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