Which informal fallacy is committed in the following statement - "American Indians are disappearing. That man is an American Indian. Therefore that man is disappearing"?

Key Points

• Fallacy of division is a type of logical fallacy in which a conclusion is made about a part based on the assumption that it is true for the whole.
• In this case, the statement assumes that because American Indians are disappearing as a whole, then that man, who is an American Indian, must also be disappearing.
• However, this is not necessarily true. Just because American Indians are disappearing as a whole does not mean that every American Indian is disappearing.

Additional Information

• Red herring is a fallacy that occurs when an irrelevant topic is introduced in order to distract from the main issue.
• Hasty generalization is a fallacy that occurs when a conclusion is made about a whole group based on the observation of a small number of members of that group.
• Begging the question is a fallacy that occurs when the conclusion of an argument is assumed in the premises.

Therefore, the informal fallacy committed in the following statement is fallacy of division.