Circular cause and consequence
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Circular cause and consequence is a logical fallacy where the consequence of the phenomenon is claimed to be its root cause. This is also known as the the chicken or the egg fallacy.
A famous circular cause and consequence is the Catch 22 on Joseph Heller's novel of the same name.
- One may only be excused from flying bombing missions on the grounds of insanity;
- One must assert one's insanity to be excused on this basis;
- One who requests to be excused is presumably in fear for his life. This is taken to be proof of his sanity, and he is therefore obliged to continue flying missions;
- One who is truly insane presumably would not make the request. He therefore would continue flying missions, even though as an insane person he could of course be excused from them simply by asking.
In other words, if one does ask to be excused, this is a sign of sanity, and nobody can be excused if sane. If one does not ask to be excused, he may be insane, but cannot be excused unless he asks. The result is that whether or not one is insane, he will have to fly dangerous missions.
Another circular cause and consequence is presented by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, where the White Queen states "Jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but never jam today". Since every tomorrow becomes eventually today as the future turns into present, and past is gone forever, the result is that poor Alice will never have jam.
A real-life circular cause and consequence fallacy is that one cannot get a job without experience, but one cannot get experience without a job. In this respect, the initial move to the job market can be very challenging.
The circular cause and consequence fallacy is much akin to No true Scotsman fallacy, but where "No true Scotsman" fallacy assumes the premise wrong in an exception, the circular cause and consequence implies an impossible outcome in an exception.
