Definitions: The Fallacy of Composition and other oddities

The Fallacy of Composition reads as follows: If a part of a whole is deemed as true, then the whole must also be true. One example states, if a part of a larger whole cannot be broken, then the larger whole cannot be broken. However, even when smaller components of the whole are indeed unbreakable, it does not make the whole immune to breaks.

Now call me crazy, but I have yet to determine if there is a difference between the Fallacy of Composition, and Association Fallacy. While Wikipedia cites the Fallacy of Composition as something often confused with the Fallacy of Hasty Generalization, there is an unspoken agreement that they are not one and the same. But do I grasp that difference? Hmmm…When examining other fallacies, if you will, I found the Fallacy of Composition to be terribly close in meaning to the Association Fallacy. But, while one is constituted, or composed, of something, the other owns certain properties that are later assigned erroneously to anything that comes close it. Does that make sense?


The Fallacy of Composition reads:
Premise:  A are made of Bs
Premise:  Bs are C
Conclusion:  Therefore, As are C


Here is the example given for the Fallacy of Composition:
1. Humans (A) are made up of human cells (B).
2. Human cells (B) are invisible to the naked eye (C).
3. Therefore, humans (A) are invisible to the naked eye (C).

The Association Fallacy reads as follows:
Premise:  A is a B
Premise: A is also a C
Conclusion:  Therefore, all Bs are Cs

And the example for Association Fallacy goes this way:
1. John has black hair.
2. John is a con artist.
3. Therefore, all people with black hair are con artists.


Of course, when thinking of Association Fallacies, I much prefer this other example from Sir Humphrey Appleby:

1. All dogs have four legs;
2. My cat has four legs.
3. Therefore, my cat is a dog.

Art: Yayoi Kusama

Simply amazing!


Installation by Yayoi Kusama. Do check this out....it blows the mind. Truly. The closest I have seen is what people do with stickers outside the Children's Museum in Dallas, Texas. The posts in the parking lot are covered in stickers as people drive off after visiting the museum.  It creates for a happy atmosphere even in the hottest of Texas suns.

Blogging: Stumble Upon

Okay, one last recommendation for the night.
I promise to shup (shut up) after this. Honestly.

Here is the link: http://www.stumbleupon.com

And off I go for the night.
Long day of cabinetry awaits me tomorrow.

So long. I will tell you more about that when the time comes.

Blogging: The power of widgets

This is so cool. Yes, go ahead, laugh all you want. But do go pay a visit to this site or others like it, particularly if you have a blog out there. Widgets rule, baby.

Check it out here:
http://sharethis.com/

Ph.D. Stuff: They signed the proposal!

Time to get back to work.
After a brief hiatus from both Blogging and Flickring, I am looking forward to see what the new year brings. Want to know why I took off?


Well, I took off because I had a Ph. D. proposal to complete and submit and get approved.  To be honest, I am not sure I completed it, nor how it got approved, but it was submitted. Certainly the best part of this whole process is that my graduate committee signed it!


I had not been able to talk much about the experience because it was so significant for me that it rendered me numb, dumbstruck, spinning into a place I had not experienced before, and certainly a place I never ever thought I would reach. You see, I was not raised to be a Ph.D. So dim were my prospects in the town where I grew up that at one point I think my family would have been glad I'd find a suitable husband and consider that my life's accomplishment. Seriously, growing up, I didn't even know what having a doctorate meant much less that one day I would be at the stage in the game where one can be said to be ABD (all but dissertation).


But somehow I convinced the committee to sign. And they did on December 8th of 2011. That is all I know and that now I'm one step closer to a Ph.D. than I, or anyone else in my family, have ever been before.


Sure, I'm still a little dizzy from the experience, which has left me physically tired, but I am energized and hopeful that in a year's time I'll be walking the stage with a diploma in hand.