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Jim

I Have Some Characteristics of the Group, but not All

Hi! I have gotten into some intense political debates on Facebook and in a blog I write. Lately, some have claimed that because I am in favor of free health care for all and free college education, that I am a socialist and so I agree with every tenet of socialism. For the record, I am in no way in favor of government control of industry.

What is this fallacy called? I remember seeing something about going from the specific to the general, but I couldn't find it in the list, and I don't think that is quite what is going on here. I don't think mischaracterization quite fits either.

Thoughts?

BTW, this is my first post. I look forward to participating in lots of interesting discussions here.

Jim
asked on Thursday, Apr 07, 2016 01:28:32 PM by Jim

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Bo Bennett, PhD
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Hi Jim and welcome!

You might be thinking of the Fallacy of Division . The logical form is:

A is part of B
B has property X
Therefore, A has property X.

Jim is part socialist.
A socialist favors government control of industry.
Therefore, Jim favors government control of industry.

This can also be considered a form of Stereotyping (the fallacy) .
answered on Thursday, Apr 07, 2016 09:58:29 PM by Bo Bennett, PhD

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