Animistic fallacy

The animistic fallacy is the informal fallacy of arguing that an event or situation necessarily arose because someone intentionally acted to cause it.[1] While it could be that someone set out to effect a specific goal, the fallacy appears in an argument that states this must be the case.[1] The name of the fallacy comes from the animistic belief that changes in the physical world are the work of conscious spirits.[citation needed]

  1. ^ a b Sowell, Thomas (1996). Knowledge and decisions (3rd ed.). Basic Books. pp. 97–100. ISBN 978-0-465-03738-4.