Which fallacy is characterized by drawing an affirmative conclusion from a negative premise?

• A. Fallacy of Illicit Major
• B. Undistributed Middle
• C. Fallacy of Illicit Minor
• D. Fallacy of Drawing an Affirmative Conclusion from a Negative Premise

Answer: (D)

The mistake is in deriving an all-encompassing positive claim about one group from a negative statement about its relation to another group. If no S are P and all P are M, there’s no logical link that forces every S to be a member of M. The fact that S has no members in P says nothing about whether S is entirely inside M or even partly outside M. So concluding that all S are M goes beyond what the premises actually support. This specific misstep—asserting an affirmative universal from a negative premise—is exactly the fallacy described. For example: No dogs are cats. All cats are mammals. Therefore, all dogs are mammals. The other fallacies listed involve different distribution or structural errors and don’t capture this particular pattern.