fallacy of composition

Information about fallacy of composition

A fallacy of composition arises when one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some (or even every) part of the whole. For example: "This fragment of metal cannot be broken with a hammer, therefore the machine of which it is a part cannot be broken with a hammer." This is clearly fallacious, because many machines can be broken into their constituent parts without any of those parts being breakable.

This fallacy is often confused with the fallacy of hasty generalization, in which an unwarranted inference is made from a statement about a sample to a statement about the population from which it is drawn.

The fallacy of composition is the converse of the fallacy of division.

Example

  1. Atoms are not visible to the naked eye
  2. Humans are made up of atoms
  3. Therefore, humans are not visible to the naked eye

Application

In Keynesian macroeconomics, the "paradox of thrift" illustrates this fallacy: increasing saving (or "thrift") is obviously good for an individual, since it provides for retirement or a "rainy day," but if everyone saves more, it may cause a recession by reducing consumer demand. So here is one explicit argument (selected from a number of possibilities arising from these facts) that commits the fallacy of composition:

The thrift of any member of a group is beneficial to that member.
Therefore, the thrift of the group as a whole is beneficial to that group as a whole.

Commodity exports and dependency theory may also be used to demonstrate the fallacy of composition. Increases in the export of a certain commodity from one country may be beneficial to that country. However, exports of that commodity by many countries may flood the market, and thus drive down price, proving detrimental to the ensemble of exporting countries.

See also

 •  • [ e]
Informal fallacies
Special pleading • Red herring • Gambler's fallacy and its inverse • Fallacy of distribution (Composition • Division) • Begging the question • Many questions
Correlative-based fallacies:False dilemma (Perfect solution) • Denying the correlative • Suppressed correlative
Deductive fallacies:Accident • Converse accident
Inductive fallacies:Hasty generalization • Overwhelming exception • Biased sample • False analogy • Misleading vividness • Conjunction fallacy
Vagueness and Ambiguity:False precision • Slippery slope • Continuum fallacy
Equivocation:Equivocation • False attribution • Fallacy of quoting out of context • Loki's Wager • No true Scotsman
Questionable cause:Correlation does not imply causation (Cum hoc) • Post hoc • Regression fallacy • Texas sharpshooter • Circular cause and consequence • Wrong direction • Single cause
A fallacy is a component of an argument that is demonstrably flawed in its logic or form, thus rendering the argument invalid in whole. In logical arguments, fallacies are either formal or informal.
..... Click the link for more information.
Hasty Generalization, is a logical fallacy of faulty generalization by reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence. It commonly involves basing a broad conclusion upon the statistics of a survey of a small group that fails to sufficiently represent the whole
..... Click the link for more information.
A fallacy of division occurs when one reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be true of all or some of its parts.

An example:
  1. A Boeing 747 can fly unaided across the ocean.
  2. A Boeing 747 has jet engines.

..... Click the link for more information.
Keynesian economics (pronounced "kainzian", IPA /ˈkeɪnzjən/), also called Keynesianism, or Keynesian Theory
..... Click the link for more information.
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of a national economy as a whole.[1] Macroeconomists seek to understand the determinants of aggregate trends in an economy with particular focus on national income,
..... Click the link for more information.
The paradox of thrift is a paradox of economics propounded by John Maynard Keynes. The paradox states that if everyone saves more money during times of recession, then aggregate demand will fall and will in turn lower total savings in the population.
..... Click the link for more information.
In common usage, saving generally means putting money aside, for example, by putting money in the bank or investing in a pension plan.

In a broader sense, saving is typically used to refer to economizing, cutting costs, or to rescuing someone or something.
..... Click the link for more information.
For other uses, see consumption


In economics, consumption refers to the final use of goods and services to provide utility.

Keynesian economics and aggregate consumption

In Keynesian economics aggregate consumption
..... Click the link for more information.
Mereological nihilism (also called compositional nihilism, or what some philosophers just call nihilism) is the position that objects with proper parts do not exist (not only objects in space, but also objects existing in time do not have any temporal parts), and only basic
..... Click the link for more information.
An informal fallacy is an argument pattern that is wrong due to a mistake in its reasoning. In contrast to a formal fallacy, the error has to do with issues of rational inference that occur in natural language; which are broader than can be represented by the symbols used in formal
..... Click the link for more information.
Special pleading is a form of spurious argumentation where a position in a dispute introduces favorable details or excludes unfavorable details by alleging a need to apply additional considerations without proper criticism of these considerations themselves.
..... Click the link for more information.
The gambler's fallacy is a formal fallacy. It is the incorrect belief that the likelihood of a random event can be affected by or predicted from other, independent events.
..... Click the link for more information.
The inverse gambler's fallacy is a term coined by philosopher Ian Hacking to refer to a formal fallacy of Bayesian inference which is similar to the better known gambler's fallacy.
..... Click the link for more information.
A fallacy of distribution is a logical fallacy occurring when an argument assumes there is no difference between a term in the distributive (referring to every member of a class) and collective (referring to the class itself as a whole) sense.
..... Click the link for more information.
A fallacy of division occurs when one reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be true of all or some of its parts.

An example:
  1. A Boeing 747 can fly unaided across the ocean.
  2. A Boeing 747 has jet engines.

..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers.
Please [improve the article] or discuss this issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since October 2007.
..... Click the link for more information.
Many questions, also known as complex question, presupposition, loaded question, "trick question", or plurium interrogationum (Latin, "of many questions"), is an informal fallacy.
..... Click the link for more information.
In logic, correlative-based fallacies, also known as fallacies of distraction, are logical fallacies based on correlative conjunctions.

A correlative conjunction is a relationship between two statements where one must be false and the other true.
..... Click the link for more information.
false dilemma—also known as false choice, false dichotomy, falsified dilemma, fallacy of the excluded middle, black and white thinking, false correlative, either/or fallacy, and bifurcation
..... Click the link for more information.
The perfect solution fallacy is a logical fallacy that occurs when an argument assumes that a perfect solution exists and/or that a solution should be rejected because some part of the problem would still exist after it was implemented.
..... Click the link for more information.
The logical fallacy of denying the correlative is an attempt made at introducing alternatives where there are none. In a way, it is the opposite of the false dilemma, which is denying other alternatives.

For example:

Policeman: "..

..... Click the link for more information.
The logical fallacy of suppressed correlative is a type of argument which tries to redefine a correlative (two mutually exclusive options) so that one alternative encompasses the other, i.e. making one alternative impossible.
..... Click the link for more information.
a Dicto simpliciter (Latin: "from a maxim without qualification" -- meaning 'from a universal rule') or ad Dictum simpliciter (Latin: "to a maxim without qualification" -- meaning 'to a universal rule') The a
..... Click the link for more information.
The logical fallacy of accident, also called destroying the exception or a dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid, is a deductive fallacy occurring in statistical syllogisms (an argument based on a generalization) when an exception to the generalization is ignored.
..... Click the link for more information.
The logical fallacy of converse accident (also called reverse accident, destroying the exception or a dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter) is a deductive fallacy that can occur in a statistical syllogism when an exception to a generalization is wrongly
..... Click the link for more information.
faulty generalization, also known as an inductive fallacy, is any of several errors of inductive inference:

Logic

The proportion PIE of the sample has attribute CAKE.

therefore

The proportion CAKE of the population has attribute PIE.
..... Click the link for more information.
Hasty Generalization, is a logical fallacy of faulty generalization by reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence. It commonly involves basing a broad conclusion upon the statistics of a survey of a small group that fails to sufficiently represent the whole
..... Click the link for more information.
An overwhelming exception is a logical fallacy similar to a hasty generalization. It is a generalization which is accurate, but comes with one or more qualifications which eliminate so many cases that what remains is much less impressive than the initial statement might have led
..... Click the link for more information.
A biased sample is a statistical sample of a population where some members of the population are less likely to be included than others. An extreme form of biased sampling occurs when certain members of the population are totally excluded from the sample (that is, they have zero
..... Click the link for more information.
False analogy is a fallacy applying to inductive arguments. It is often mistakenly considered to be a formal fallacy, but it is not, because a false analogy consists of an error in the substance of an argument (the content of the analogy itself), not an error in the logical
..... Click the link for more information.

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.