Fallacies of illicit transference

A fallacy of illicit transference is an informal fallacy occurring when an argument assumes there is no difference between a term in the distributive (referring to every member of a class) and collective (referring to the class itself as a whole) sense.

There are two variations of this fallacy:


 * Fallacy of composition – assumes what is true of the parts is true of the whole. This fallacy is also known as "arguing from the specific to the general."
 * Since Judy is so diligent in the workplace, this entire company must have an amazing work ethic.


 * Fallacy of division – assumes what is true of the whole is true of its parts (or some subset of parts).
 * Because this company is so corrupt, so must every employee within it be corrupt.

While fallacious, arguments that make these assumptions may be persuasive because of the representativeness heuristic.