A fallacy of illicit transference is an
informal fallacy
Informal fallacies are a type of incorrect argument in natural language. The source of the error is not just due to the ''form'' of the argument, as is the case for formal fallacies, but can also be due to their ''content'' and ''context''. Falla ...
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.
There are two variations of this fallacy:
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Fallacy of composition
The fallacy of composition is an informal fallacy that arises when one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole. A trivial example might be: "This tire is made of rubber, therefore the ve ...
– assumes what is true of the parts is true of the whole. This fallacy is also known as "arguing from the specific to the general."
:''Since Judy is so diligent in the workplace, this entire company must have an amazing work ethic.''
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Fallacy of division
A fallacy of division is an informal fallacy that occurs when one reasons that something that is true for a whole must also be true of all or some of its parts.
An example:
# The second grade in Jefferson Elementary eats a lot of ice cream
# Ca ...
– assumes what is true of the whole is true of its parts (or some subset of parts).
:''Because this company is so corrupt, so must every employee within it be corrupt.''
While fallacious, arguments that make these assumptions may be persuasive because of the
representativeness heuristic The representativeness heuristic is used when making judgments about the probability of an event under uncertainty. It is one of a group of heuristics (simple rules governing judgment or decision-making) proposed by psychologists Amos Tversky and D ...
.
See also
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Ecological fallacy
An ecological fallacy (also ecological ''inference'' fallacy or population fallacy) is a formal fallacy in the interpretation of statistical data that occurs when inferences about the nature of individuals are deduced from inferences about the gr ...
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Existential fallacy
The existential fallacy, or existential instantiation, is a formal fallacy. In the existential fallacy, one presupposes that a class has members when one is not supposed to do so; i.e., when one should not assume existential import. Not to be con ...
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Fallacy of the undistributed middle
The fallacy of the undistributed middle () is a formal fallacy that is committed when the middle term in a categorical syllogism is not distributed in either the minor premise or the major premise. It is thus a syllogistic fallacy.
Classical f ...
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Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny
Ontogeny (also ontogenesis) is the origination and development of an organism (both physical and psychological, e.g., moral development), usually from the time of fertilization of the ovum, egg to adult. The term can also be used to refer to t ...
References
Informal fallacies
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