Justifying one thing because it's a necessary component of another *unnecessary* thing... what logical fallacy is that?

SeahorseTreble@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 43 points –
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I was nerd sniped by this post for like an hour, and "false dichotomy" was the closest I could find, lol. You could say that the argument has an unstated co-premise ("the harm is necessary"), to which you are raising an "inference objection".

I appreciate your thoughts! And "nerd sniped" is a great term 😂 I agree, I think there may not be a specific name for this fallacy (though it could be described as somewhat of a false requirement or false necessity fallacy), nor is it widely recognised in logic literature (as is often the case; some might call it a "made-up fallacy" but indeed a verifiable one), but it probably falls under the more general fallacies of "false dilemma/false dichotomy", as well as "fallacy of composition":

"Fallacy of composition occurs when someone assumes that what's true for part of something must also be true for the whole or that if one thing is a necessary component of another thing, both must be necessary, even if it's not the case. In essence, it assumes that the properties of the parts apply to the whole."