# Is There a Name for this Fallacy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-fallacy/614249 "2012-02-28T13:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-fallacy/614249/1 "2012-02-28T13:26:54Z")
Something I come across a lot in my working life, is the failure to understand that many decisions involve tradeoffs. For example, spending a lot of resources testing for a particular problem is a de-facto decision to neglect other areas, as resources are finite. The justification I often hear is “that can’t do any harm”. It’s not so much a lack of prioritisation, as a failure to recognise that pritoritaisation is required. There are more subtle versions of it. Pretty much any choice to emphasize something is a de-facto decision to de-emphasize others. I was wondering, is there a formal name for this logical fallacy? If not, can we coin one? ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-fallacy/614249/2 "2012-02-28T13:49:58Z")
The concept that you are describing is called [opportunity cost](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost). I think the term for failing to recognize the concept might be economic ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-fallacy/614249/3 "2012-02-28T14:39:17Z")
This is sometimes described by way of the “Broken Window Fallacy”: > **[Parable of the broken window](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window)** > > The parable of the broken window was introduced by French economist Frédéric Bastiat in his 1850 essay "That Which We See and That Which We Do Not See" ("Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas") to illustrate why destruction, and the money spent to recover from destruction, is not actually a net benefit to society. > The parable seeks to show how opportunity costs, as well as the law of unintended consequences, affect economic activity in ways that are unseen or ignored. The belief that destruction... ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-fallacy/614249/4 "2012-02-28T15:06:21Z")
Is there a name for the fallacy of believing that everyone who does not see things your way, or share your priorities, must be committing a logical fallacy? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-fallacy/614249/5 "2012-02-28T15:36:43Z")
Thanks for the answers, opportunity cost is a good way of describing it. > [@njtt](#): > > Is there a name for the fallacy of believing that everyone who does not see things your way, or share your priorities, must be committing a logical fallacy? No, that would just be arrogance. All attempts at prioritisation are flawed, this thread is about the failure to recognise when a decision on it has been made implicitly.