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→False cause: Texas sharpshooter fallacy
For example: "Right around the time the sun goes up my alarm clock goes off, so the sun causes my alarm clock to go off." Clearly this is not the case.
For example: "Right around the time the sun goes up my alarm clock goes off, so the sun causes my alarm clock to go off." Clearly this is not the case.
====Texas sharpshooter fallacy====
Another form of false cause is the '''Texas sharpshooter fallacy'''. The name comes from a failed marksman who shoots at a barn, draws a bullseye around the biggest cluster of bullet holes, and proclaims himself to be a skilled marksman. In the fallacy, a cluster of data points is assumed to be caused by an apparent cause at that location. The assumption is fallacious because the clustering could be random, or there could be some other cause.<ref>[http://www.fallacyfiles.org/texsharp.html The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy]</ref> Other ways of explaining the fallacy are that the hypothesis is constructed after the fact to conform to the very data that are used to "test" the hypothesis<ref>[http://www.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~tiseda/works/Mayo-2.html Severe Testing]</ref> and that the same data are used to formulate and test the hypothesis.<ref>[http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=3073771#post3073771 Precognition paper to be published in mainstream journal]</ref>
===Non sequitur===
===Non sequitur===