"The soft drinks sector has shown good growth in profit over the past few years; therefore we can conclude that each individual soft drinks company is making good profits." The above argument is an example of which fallacy?
AHasty generalization
BSlippery slope
CBegging the question
DThe fallacy of division ✓ Correct
Correct answer: (D) The fallacy of division
Explanation
What is true of the whole sector is wrongly carried over to each single company, the fallacy of division.
The premise reports growth of profit for the soft drinks sector as a whole.
A property of a collective need not belong to each of its individual members.
The sector may grow while some particular companies still make losses.
Inferring from the group to every part reverses the correct direction of reasoning.
Distributing a whole's attribute onto its parts is the fallacy of division.
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