(e) In governmental affairs the assumption, that a law which benefits one section will benefit all, is a fallacy of composition.
(5) Division.
The fallacy of division is committed when it is assumed that what is true collectively is true distributively. Division is the converse of composition. Composition is a fallacious procedure from a distributive to a collective use; while division is a fallacious procedure from a collective to a distributive use. The fallacy of division may be illustrated by giving the converse of the illustrations under composition:
(a) “The team is a star playing team; and since Smith is the ‘first baseman’ of the team, he must be a star player.”
(b) “The jury rendered a just decision; hence the foreman is a fair minded man.”
(c) Thirty-seven is an odd number,
Nine and twenty-eight are thirty-seven,
∴ Nine and twenty-eight are odd numbers.
(d) All the angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles,
A is an angle of a triangle,