Explain and give an illustration

Question

Explain and give an illustration of (a) the fallacy of composition; and (b) the “after this, therefore because of this” fallacy.  Why are cause-and-effect relationships difficult to isolate in the social sciences?

Answer 1

(a) The fallacy of composition is the mistake of believing that something true for an individual part is necessarily true for the whole.  Example:  A single auto producer can increase its profits by lowering its price and taking business away from its competitors.  But matched price cuts by all auto manufacturers will not necessarily yield higher industry profits.

(b) The “after this, therefore because of this” fallacy is incorrectly reasoning that when one event precedes another, the first even necessarily caused the second.  Example:  Interest rates rise, followed by an increase in the rate of inflation, leading to the erroneous conclusion that the rise in interest rates caused the inflation.  Actually higher interest rates slow inflation.

Cause-and-effect relationships are difficult to isolate because “other things” are continually changing.