Question

7. Explain the difference between the fallacy of composition and the post hoc fallacy. Then, provide a real world example of each fallacy from your own personal or professional experience. (10)

Answer 1

7. The fallacy of composition is a false belief that what is true for a member of a group or part of something is also true for the entire group or the entire thing. Post hoc fallacy is a false belief that if event B happened after event A, it means event A is the cause of event B.

A real-life example of the fallacy of composition is that we find that a Muslim was involved in a terrorist act, we tend to think that the entire Muslim religion is responsible for terrorism.

A real-life example of the theory of post hoc is that when I laughed just before my the cat spilled the juice and my mom thought the cat spilled the juice because of my laughter.