Full Idea
It is said that analysis is falsification, that the complex is not equivalent to the sum of its constituents and is changed when analysed into these.
Gist of Idea
Analysis falsifies, if when the parts are broken down they are not equivalent to their sum
Source
Bertrand Russell (The Principles of Mathematics [1903], §439)
Book Reference
Russell,Bertrand: 'Principles of Mathematics' [Routledge 1992], p.466
A Reaction
Not quite Moore's Paradox of Analysis, but close. Russell is articulating the view we now call 'holism' - that the whole is more than the sum of its parts - which I can never quite believe.