Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Fallacy of distribution
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.
There are exactly two different kinds of this fallacy:
- Composition - assumes what is true of the members is true of the class
- Division - assumes what is true of the class is true of its members
While fallacious, arguments that make these assumptions may be persuasive because of the representativeness heuristic.
Compare
See also
Last updated: 10-25-2005 00:50:56
10-26-2009 08:16:03
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details