Editing Fallacy of composition (section)

==Examples==
[[File:MUR murs (50637813977 cropped).jpg|thumb|"Every brick in the wall is [[rectangular cuboid|rectangular-cuboid]]-shaped. Therefore, the whole wall is rectangular-cuboid-shaped."]]
*[[Bertrand Russell]]'s example in the [[Copleston–Russell debate]]: "Every man who exists has a mother... therefore the human race must have a mother".<ref>{{cite web |title=Transcript of the 1948 Russell-Copleston debate |url=http://www.scandalon.co.uk/philosophy/cosmological_radio.htm}}</ref> This was intended to illustrate how [[cosmological argument]]s for God's existence (specifically [[Frederick Copleston]]'s) commit the fallacy by assuming that the universe itself requires a cause or an explanation for its existence just because everything in the universe does.
*"If someone stands up from their seat at a [[cricket]] match, they can see better. Therefore, if everyone stands up, they can all see better."
*"Every brick in the wall is rectangular-cuboid-shaped. Therefore, the whole wall is rectangular-cuboid-shaped." (see picture)
*"Some people can become millionaires with the right business concept. Therefore, if everyone has the right business concept, everyone will become a millionaire."
*"If a runner runs faster, that runner can win the race. Therefore, if all the runners run faster, they can all win the race."
*"Since every part of a certain machine is light in weight, the machine as a whole is light in weight."<ref name="fall">Maurice A. Finocchiaro. Journal of Applied Logic Volume 13, Issue 2, Part B, June 2015, Pages 24-43, [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S157086831500004X The fallacy of composition: Guiding concepts, historical cases, and research problems].</ref>
*In the economics of education, Bryan Caplan explains [[Educational inflation#Credential inflation or degree inflation|Credential inflation or degree inflation]] using the fallacy of composition: "If one person gets a college degree, that person looks more appealing in the labor market. If everyone gets a college degree, everyone will look more appealing in the labor market." ([[The Case Against Education]])
*In [[voting theory]], the [[Condorcet paradox]] demonstrates a fallacy of composition: Even if all voters have rational [[preferences]], the collective choice induced by [[majority rule]] is not transitive and hence not rational. The fallacy of composition occurs if from the rationality of the individuals one infers that society can be equally rational. The principle generalizes beyond the aggregation via majority rule to any reasonable aggregation rule, demonstrating that the aggregation of individual preferences into a [[social welfare function]] is fraught with severe difficulties (see [[Arrow's impossibility theorem]] and [[social choice theory]]).{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}
*In [[chemistry]] and [[materials science]], a single type of [[atom]] may form [[Allotropy|allotropes]] with different physical properties from each other, and from their individual constituent atoms, such as [[diamond]] and [[graphite]] each consisting of [[carbon]] atoms. What is true of a single carbon atom is not true of a collection of carbon atoms bonded into a material. Furthermore, the properties of an atom differ from the properties of the individual [[subatomic particle]]s that constitute it.
*In [[social network]] theory, a group of humans arranged into a social network can have abilities not possessed by the individual humans making up the network.<ref name="Christakis_Fowler_2009">{{cite book
 |title=Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
 |last1=Christakis
 |first1=Nicholas A.
 |author-link1=Nicholas A. Christakis
 |last2=Fowler
 |first2=James H.
 |author-link2=James H. Fowler
 |year=2009
 |publisher=Little, Brown and Co.
 |isbn=978-0316036146
 |url-access=registration
 |url=https://archive.org/details/connectedsurpris00chri
 }}</ref> A simple example is the [[bucket brigade]], in which humans arranged into a chain can move buckets of water or other similar items across a distance faster and with less effort than can a disorganized group of individuals carrying the loads across the same distance. What is true of the part (an individual needing to move his or her body across the whole distance to move a load) is not true of the whole (in which individuals can move loads across the distance merely by standing in place and handing off the load to the next individual).

===In economics===
*  The [[paradox of thrift]] is a notable fallacy of composition described by [[Keynesian economics]].
* [[Division of labour]] is another economic example, in which overall productivity can greatly increase when individual workers specialize in doing different jobs. An individual worker may become more productive by specializing in making, say, [[hatpin]]s, but by satisfying the wants of many other individuals for a given product, the specialist worker forces other workers to specialize in making different things. What is true for the part (earning more by investing in the skills or equipment to make a given product faster) is not true for the whole (because not everybody can profitably make the same product).
* In a [[tragedy of the commons]], an individual can profit by consuming a larger share of a common, shared resource such as fish from the sea; but if too many individuals seek to consume more, they can destroy the resource.<ref name="Pigliucci_2012">{{cite book
 |title=Answers for Aristotle: How Science and Philosophy Can Lead Us to A More Meaningful Life
 |first=Massimo
 |last=Pigliucci
 |author-link=Massimo Pigliucci
 |isbn=978-0465021383
 |publisher=Basic Books
 |year=2012
 |chapter=Chapter 15: On Justice
}}</ref>
* In the [[free rider problem]], an individual can benefit by failing to pay when consuming a share of a public good; but if there are too many such "free riders", eventually there will be no "ride" for anyone.<ref name="Pigliucci_2012"/>