Michael J. Hurd's Collective Fallacy

Capitalism Magazine: America the Insufficiently Angry

Mind you, it's not that people are trying to say that North Korea, Iran and Iraq are not evil; it's the very idea of calling anyone evil which bothers them. Critics of the "axis of evil" concept advanced by President Bush hide behind the charge of "simplistic," saying it's simplistic to call any nation all good or all bad - even one like Iran, some of whose leaders have already openly declared nuclear war against us as soon as they can acquire the means. If ever there were to be a case of all bad, it would seem to be a nation like Iran.

Copyright 2004-1997 Capitalism Magazine. All rights reserved.

I see this as a clear-cut case of the fallacy of composition. A nation is a concept, a mental organization. The people living within the geographic boundaries of a nation are all individuals with their own specific motivations, goals, philosophies, actions, and statements. Rather than calling an entire nation evil, it is more accurate to describe individuals and their actions as evil. Even assuming Dr. Hurd and President Bush exempt the undeveloped minds of children and the retarded from his sweeping generalization, they carelessly lump together the Iranian dissidents with the Iranian theocrats.

Posted by Drizzten at November 17, 2004 02:32 PM