the.com/categorical error

means A mistake that happens when you ascribe a property to something that belongs to a completely different kind of thing — not a wrong answer, but a wrongly shaped question.

from From logic and philosophy's use of 'category' (ultimately from Greek 'kategoria,' originally a legal term meaning 'accusation' or 'predicate stated against something,' via Aristotle's categories — his scheme for sorting all things that can be said to exist into basic kinds like substance, quantity, quality, relation). The philosophical sense of 'category error' was sharpened in the 20th century by philosopher Gilbert Ryle, who used it to argue that treating the mind as a separate 'thing' alongside the body was like a visitor touring a university's colleges, library, and labs, then asking 'but where is the university?' — mistaking a category (an organizing concept) for a member of it.