Q25 - Philosopher: The eighteenth-century thesis

[jimmy902o]

I was temped by C but decided to throw it out because it said "relying on the authority of an expert." In my opinion the philosopher relies on the data of the expert not hisauthority so I eliminated it C. I ended up choosing D- but was between A and D, and I still don't see why either is wrong. Please help!

[noah]

We're asked to identify an argumentative technique that's used in the philosopher's argument.

In short, her argument goes:

1. Idea
2. Introduces evidence (of physicist)
3. Uses evidence to draw conclusion.

That's a pretty slim summary, but let's go for the answers, as we don't know what the LSAT is really asking about here.

(A) is not true - the philosopher does more than just throw out technical terminology!

(B) is easy to eliminate - where were the experiments?

(C) is supported by the philosopher referring to the physicist as "well-respected." But, let's defer judgement.

(D) is the same as (B) - no experiments.

(E) is out of scope - there are no references to different regions in space.

The philosopher relies on both the idea that the physicist claims, but she also relies on his reputation. Why should we accept what the physicist claims? The philosopher does. Why? All we can say is because he's well-respected.