Definition of fallacy of composition in English:
fallacy of composition
nounPlural fallacies of composition
The error of assuming that what is true of a member of a group is true for the group as a whole.
Example sentencesExamples
- Searle argues that this objection involves a fallacy of composition, confusing the properties of a system with those of its parts.
- Neither liberals nor conservatives are any more prone to prejudice than other groups and to argue otherwise is, in my opinion, an example of committing the fallacy of composition.
- While distributional changes between regions can occur at a given level of economic activity, it is a fallacy of composition to assume that all regions can lift themselves without a buoyant aggregate climate.
- It is an example of what economists call the fallacy of composition: because something can work at one scale is no reason to apply it at another.
- It is a fallacy of composition to suppose that aggregate wealth can be measured by summing business wealth, for every credit is balanced by a corresponding debit.