Saturday, November 13, 2010
Fallacy of Competition
One concept that I have found useful is fallacy of composition. This fallacy states that whatever is the truth about an individual also stays true for the group. This is a very common fallacy. For example, the school should raise the tuition percentage just as the books that we should buy should be raised as well. Here lies an analogy between school and books. The first argument states that the school should raise tuition. One would ask why. The answer would be to cover costs from students because lack of funding from the government. However, the percentage price of books should not be raised because it just doesn’t make sense. Just because books and school are related, both prices shouldn’t be raised to match the other. It would not make any sense for schools to raise book prices because they are trying to keep low prices to entice students to shop at their store. I felt that fallacy of composition is a common fallacy which can be easily noticed.
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I like the example that you used for Fallacy of Competition. This is something that all students, current and past, can relate to. We have all endured the price hikes on our tuition, the insane costs of text books, and ridiculous parking fees. Though we may not like it, most of us understand the reason behind the raise for our tuition fees. Text books are another story, as is parking. Do these prices really need to be raised in order to help the university and the staff? We as students are also struggling as well – not to mention, class choices have been reduced.
ReplyDeletehey Patster,
ReplyDeleteI think your example really brings out what really goes in with the universities. I seriously do not think that universities will stop doing that. But, if I am right, the price of books are set by the publishers; regardless they are still set at high prices. I do understand the way you use this example for this fallacy. I also do agree with DLo; I think other issues such as parking fares and food prices do get affected if universities use this fallacy. Overall, good post. I was able to relate to it with ease, and plus it was easy to understand it .
I also found fallacy of composition to be a very useful concept. This fallacy is definitely overused and far to common. The example that you used for the fallacy helped me better understand the concept. I agree with you that there is no reason that the price of tuition and the price of textbooks should increase at the same time. It makes absolutely no sense that this happens. Textbook prices are way to high and many students have a hard time getting enough money for their books and tuition. I do not think that textbooks and tuition will stop increasing any time in the near future. Overall, your post was very clear and informative.
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