Fake explanation

Overview

A fake explanation is anything which sounds like an explanation, or is offered as an explanation, but which does not offer any further understanding even if it might be true.

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Many fake explanations are also curiosity stoppers.

Examples

• "Because God did it" is one example commonly used in religion-based arguments.
• The question-and-answer pair "What makes it go? Energy!", found in an elementary school science textbook, was derided by the late Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman as being utterly useless as an explanation.

Probably most often in the form of a non sequitur, but I don't have time to check into this at the moment. -W.

Links

• Overcoming Bias: Fake Explanations