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Philosophy

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  • 4
    Equivocating "reason" with "cause".
    – Mauro ALLEGRANZA
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 13:22
  • 2
    I was told that driving on the left side of the road comes from old times where people used whips to make horses walk. So, if you drive on the left, hitting a passer-by is less likely because most people wield the whip with their right hand. Could there be a good reason after all? :-)
    – framontb
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 13:38
  • 7
    Everything is NOT a legit argument! Sometimes people talk without serious meaning. Even if this were in a context of a legit argument this may appeal to many fallacies. I would say argument from ignorance, non sequitur and post ad hoc ergo propter hoc. The latter is almost to the tee. Again I think in normal conversation the saying is NOT a legit argument & this is just small talk. Perhaps it is a way to keep the conversation going or perhaps the person who says it wants a reaction from someone. This is NOT a genuine knowledge or wisdom seeking moment when someone speaks like that.
    – Logikal
    Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 14:29
  • 9
    It's worth also considering the entirely opposite notion of "Chesterton's fence" - that often there is a good reason why something was implemented, so it's often worth finding out what that reason was before changing something just because you don't (yet) see any reason why it should be so.
    – Peteris
    Commented Jun 2, 2020 at 15:33
  • 4
    ... and let's not forget the fallacy fallacy, when someone tries to use the fallacy in the question, to prove that something can't possibly have a good reason.
    – vsz
    Commented Jun 2, 2020 at 19:22