Talk:Fallacy of composition

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I enjoyed the example of saving = good for individual, saving for everyone = bad for the whole. This seems to be a prisoner's dilemma if someone wants to perhaps add it in (although it only works for examples where there is choice among people, it doesn't work for the machine breaking example). --ShaunMacPherson 19:21, 12 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think this principle is incorrectly stated, because in some (many) cases properties of component parts are retained by the whole. For example, metal melts, therefore if a machine is constructed of metal parts the machine will also melt. It depends on the specific properties and how the parts are combined; in fact there is no general method for determining whether the fallacy applies or not, you need to understand the details of the case in question. Bobcousins 23:51, 22 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Bobcousins, the fallacy is correctly explained in the article. Your example shows only that some inferences from the properties of parts to the properties of wholes happen to issue in true conclusions. But so, for example, do many hasty generalisations issue in true conclusions. The point in the case of fallacy of composition is that more evidence is required than simply the evidence that the parts have certain properties. Try this argument, in which premise C provides such extra evidence:

A. Ice must always melt above 0ºC.

B. This statue is made only of ice.

C. Melting is a property that transfers from parts to wholes.

Therefore D. This statue must melt above 0ºC.

This argument is valid. But the argument A, B, therefore D is not strictly valid, even though the conclusion D is plainly true. This reduced argument is an example of the fallacy of composition. Noetica 00:26, 23 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

And perhaps another way to put it is that the Fallacy of Composition is indeed a "fallacy" because although the conclusion may sometimes be true, it is not necessarily true in every case. 24.6.66.193 12:36, 9 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

--Economic--

I am not familiar with the "paradox of thrift". But as described, it sounds to me like this is an exmple of prisoner's dilema. What is the relationship between falacy of composition and the prisoner's dilema?