Q5 - Since professor

[cyt5015]

I'm able to provide concrete reasons for why answer C is correct and why other answers are wrong except answer B. To be a correct answer for flaw type of questions, it should be (1) descriptively accurate and (2) the right flaw. Is answer B wrong because of (1) or (2)?
I understand that answer B usually fits to an argument like: Tim and Jerry who are students in GreenBell middle school are great dancers, therefore all students in GreenBell middle school are great dancers. Can any expert help me to clarify my confusion?

[Mab6q]

I would say that it would fall under 1 and 2. Simply put, we don't know that the cases that are given are exceptional cases, they could be the only cases. Once you see that disconnect, eliminate!

B would be right if we had something like this:

Everyone raves about how great the service at the new IHOP is, but me and my friend have gone there on separate occasions and have had terrible service. This provides conclusive evidence that the service is not great.

Hope that helps!

[rinagoldfield]

Thanks for your posts cyt5015 and Mab6q ! Great discussion.

Mab6q, I agree with your assessment of (B). Great analogy.

Here’s a rundown of the full question:

P: Bad things have happened to the department since Professor Smythe was appointed

C: Professor Smythe was appointed to undermine the department.

This argument makes a classic causation error. The bad things are correlated with Smythe’s appointment, but the author assumes a causal relationship. The author overlooks the possibility that Smythe was appointed to stem a rise of bad things (ie bad things caused her appointment), or that a third, unrelated factor caused the bad things.

“To” in the conclusion is a causal indicator. It’s a shorthand for “in order to,” and points to the cause-and-effect relationship assumed by the author.

(C) gets at this mistake. “To bring about” here is the causal indicator.

(A) is incorrect because the decline in reputation is offered as a factual premise. Our task is not to investigate this fact.

(B) is incorrect because the instances cited are not exceptional. Exceptional means unusual or out of the ordinary. The evidence cited by the author is valid, across-the-board evidence.

(D) is incorrect because it is irrelevant to the causal conclusion.

(E) is incorrect – this is a circular reasoning answer choice (I’m feeling blue, therefore I’m feeling blue), and the author does not use circular reasoning here.

Hope that helps!

[cyt5015]

Thanks above!