A category fallacy is when a speaker presents a concept of one category as belonging to another. The term was coined by Gilbert Ryle and is widely used in philosophy. The most famous example is the visitor seeking the university in Oxford. Not all category errors are obvious, and mixed metaphors can be a form of category fallacy.
In philosophy, a category fallacy, also called a category fallacy, is a philosophical concept used to describe a statement in which the speaker presents a concept of one category as belonging to another or ascribes properties of one category to concepts of another one. British philosopher Gilbert Ryle (1900-1976) coined the term in his book The Concept of Mind (1949). The term caught on and is now widely used in philosophical discussion.
The most famous example of a category fallacy is probably an example from Ryle’s work. Ryle asks the reader to imagine a visitor to the city of Oxford. A guidebook shows the visitor around the city, pointing out colleges, departments and libraries as they go. At the end of the tour, the visitor asks “but where is the university?” For Ryle, this is a category error. The visitor treats the university as if it were part of the building category, rather than for what it really is: a collection of institutions, some of which are housed in their own buildings.
This example was part of Ryle’s critique of the philosophy of René Descartes (1596-1650). To Ryle, Descartes was making a category error similar to that of the visitor seeking the university by ignoring its constituents. Ryle argued that the mind was not separate from the body or from the individual’s actions.
Some participants in philosophical discussions occasionally misapply the term by using it to mean a grave error. To truly be a category fallacy, a statement must attribute qualities to something it could not possess. Consider the statement “most Americans are vegetarians.” This statement is not true, but it is not a category error, because theoretically it could be true: vegetarianism is a quality appropriate to the category of Americans. The statement “most Americans last about three-quarters of an hour” is this kind of fallacy, as it applies a quality—a length of time—that doesn’t apply to humans in general.
Obvious category errors like this example are extremely rare, because they seem obviously false to the listener. However, not all category errors are so obvious. In discourse, a mixed metaphor, also known as a catachresis, is essentially a form of category fallacy that can be unintentional or deliberate. In Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens, for example, Philotus says, “I fear it is the deepest winter in Lord Timon’s purse.” In essence, this is a category fallacy – handbags have no seasons – but the implied comparison is significant, providing a poetic comparison that both enlightens and pleases.
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