category mistake

British  

noun

1. philosophy logic a sentence that says of something in one category what can only intelligibly be said of something in another, as when speaking of the mind located in space

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Example Sentences

A lazy, secondhand phrase will sometimes turn up in quotation marks, but always flagged as a moral error, a sign of bad faith or bad taste, a category mistake.

From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2020

In short, the notion that executive privilege applies in this space is a category mistake.

From Slate • Sep. 10, 2018

Spinoza wanted a knowledge of the world that was as certain as the truths of mathematics, but Hume pointed out that this was a category mistake.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 29, 2016

His orientation toward the world is the product of a classic category mistake, but because he’s nestled inside it so snugly he perceives complex concepts outside of his understanding as meaningless dribble.

From The Guardian • Jul. 29, 2014

The Simple View however regards this model as a real description of real labour markets, and it thus makes the category mistake of using arguments concerning the income distribution for issues of growth and employment.

From Definition & Reality in the General Theory of Political Economy by Colignatus, Thomas