There are three main semantic flaws: floating abstractions, collectivist words, and loaded words. A floating abstraction is a word which designates non-existent or even meaningless identities (such as "god", "nothing" or "non-existence"). A collectivist word is a term which designates groups but is erroneously used as a singular entity (such as "society", "community", "country"). A loaded word is a term that has erroneous prescriptive connotations (such as "religion" or "democracy").
Of these three problems, one can convince people of the truth in some cases of loaded words: but the first two are fatal. Once they are implanted in the language, they cannot be undone unless the words change.
Examine the word "society". Every time we are faced with a problematic concept, we should use Rand's Razor*: what does this concept refer to ? What can we perceive, and point to, that is "society" ? We can point to individuals. We can also point to documents, buildings, institutions, which rule over and regulate these individuals. There is no block of "society", and I cannot point to a "society" : but I can point to all these things. That agglomeration is what we call "society".
This is how we know that "society" is not a singular entity which acts and benefits: only individuals, personally or through their institutions, act and benefit. Using the word "society" as an entity which acts and benefits is a collectivist fallacy. This is a good example of how Rand's Razor forces us to pierce the veil of semantics and look at reality from a metaphysical point of view.
Now we can get to the crux of the subject. There are three main ways of seeing groups and collective concepts: "the many", "the one without the many", and "the one within the many". These three ways parallel the Three Ways and the triune classification of epistemology, and are part of their classification.
"The one without the many" is our natural tendancy to treat collectivist entities as singular entities. In this naive view, the person thinks all words designate something we can touch and feel: a table, snow, a lightbulb, a society, a god, are all on the same footing. Such a person would uphold "society" as a "higher good" which individuals must sacrifice themselves, and others, for by using coercion and rhetoric.
