|
|
Distributive Fallacy - Composition |
| Description: | ||
|
||
| The argument moves from a claim about the distributive sense of a class (i.e. each of the parts taken separately) to a claim about the collective sense of a class (i.e. the class taken as a whole). | ||
|
|
||
| Examples: | ||
| "I like Rocky Road ice-cream, ketchup, and potato chips, so I should like a Rocky Road sundae topped with ketchup and potato chips." | ||
| "This model of the Eiffel Tower is made entirely of toothpicks and glue. Each toothpick and each drop of glue weighs next to nothing. Hence the entire model should weigh next to nothing." | ||
|
|
||
| Classification: A Fallacy of Ambiguity (a fallacy of soundness in which we cannot tell whether the fallacy occurs in the major premiss or the minor premiss). | ||
|
||
| Source: Aristotle, Sophistical Refutations 4 (166a: 25 - 30). | ||
|
||
Go to: WELCOME EXPLANATION of PRINCIPLES TABLE of FALLACIES EXERCISES INDEX