Editing Fallacies of illicit transference

{{Short description|Informal fallacy}}
{{One source |date=May 2023}}
A '''fallacy of illicit transference''' is an [[informal 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.<ref name="Hurley2014" />

There are two variations of this fallacy:<ref name="Hurley2014" />

* [[Fallacy of composition]] – 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.''
* [[Fallacy of division]] – assumes what is true of the whole is true of its parts (or some subset of parts). In statistics, forms of it are usually referred to as the [[ecological fallacy]].
:''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]].

==See also==
* [[Affirming the consequent]]
* [[Existential fallacy]]
* [[Fallacy of the undistributed middle]]
* [[Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Hurley2014">{{citation|last=Hurley|first=Patrick|title=A Concise Introduction to Logic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qGBQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT182|edition=12th|year=2014|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-285-96556-7|pages=161, 172}}</ref>
}}

{{Fallacies}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fallacy Of Distribution}}
[[Category:Informal fallacies]]


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