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Question

Difficulty: MediumErrors of Composition and Division

Executive Director of Apex Tech: Every individual software module in our new operating system was developed by top security specialists and passed its independent unit test with zero syntax errors. Therefore, when all forty modules are combined into a single integrated platform, the entire operating system is guaranteed to run without performance bottlenecks or unexpected crashes.

Which of the following best describes the logical flaw in the Executive Director's argument?

  1. It presumes without justification that a property held by each individual component of a system must also belong to the system as a whole.Answer
  2. B
    It treats a subsidiary claim about unit test performance as if it were the argument's overall conclusion regarding commercial market success.
  3. C
    It assumes that because two software systems share similar design frameworks, they will operate with equal stability in real-world deployments.
  4. D
    It makes an unwarranted leap by predicting high future customer satisfaction from basic technical compliance data.
  5. E
    It mistakes a condition that is necessary for software integration for a condition that guarantees complete immunity from hardware failures.

Answer

The correct answer identifies the fallacy of composition: assuming that because every constituent module functions without error in isolation, the integrated operating system as a whole will function flawlessly.
The argument assumes that because each individual software module has no syntax errors and passes independent unit testing, the entire combined system will function flawlessly. This is a classic fallacy of composition: inferring that a system as a whole must possess a characteristic simply because each of its individual constituent parts possesses that characteristic. In software engineering and complex systems, individual components can interact in unpredictable ways, creating system-level bottlenecks or crashes even if each component is bug-free in isolation.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the premise and conclusion structure of the argument.
Premise: Each individual module has zero syntax errors and passed independent testing. Conclusion: The integrated system composed of all modules will run without crashes.
Identifying the premises and conclusion clarifies the logical leap taken by the author.
2
Evaluate the logical relationship between the parts (modules) and the whole (operating system).
System integration often introduces complex inter-module interactions, memory leaks, and interface conflicts that do not exist within isolated modules.
Attributes of individual components do not automatically transfer to the combined whole.
3
Match the identified reasoning gap to the correct flaw description.
The argument illustrates an Error of Composition (inferring whole-system properties from part-level properties).
Selecting the option that accurately describes inferring whole-system properties from part-level properties correctly points out the flaw.

Key Concept

Errors of Composition and Division
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Topics

Errors of Composition and Division

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