'This is the richest fraternity on the campus; therefore Mr. X who is a member of this fraternity must be one of the richest young man on the campus.' Which fallacy is involved in this argument?
AFallacy of division ✓ Correct
BFallacy of irrelevant conclusion
CRed Herring
DSlippery slope
Correct answer: (A) Fallacy of division
Explanation
The argument takes what is true of the whole fraternity, its being the richest, and forces it onto an individual member.
A property of a collective need not belong to each of its parts.
The fraternity can be richest overall while a given member is not among the richest.
Inferring from whole to part in this way is the fallacy of division.
So the reasoning about Mr. X commits the fallacy of division.
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