Self-study
Attorney for Ziegler: My client continued to do consulting work between the time of his arrest for attempted murder and the start of this trial. ███ █ ███████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that Ziegler was insane at the time he fired the shot. This is based on the fact that the people accusing Ziegler of a crime submitted no evidence that Ziegler was sane at the time of the shot. They’ve only submitted evidence Ziegler was sane after the shot.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author overlooks the fact that there’s evidence Ziegler was sane after the shot constitutes evidence that Ziegler was sane at the time of the shot, too. In addition, the author overlooks the fact that, even if there was a failure to submit evidence of Ziegler’s sanity at the time of the shot, that doesn’t prove Ziegler was insane at the time. Absence of evidence for a particular proposition (that Ziegler was sane at the time of the shot) does not constitute evidence against that proposition.
21.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ █ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ █████████
a
It presumes that █████ █ █████████████ ████████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ █████████
The author does not offer the claim about Ziegler’s consulting work as evidence Ziegler is innocent. So, the author does not assume that this consulting work is relevant to being guilty or innocent.
b
It concludes on ███ █████ ██ ████████ ███████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ █████ █████
The argument is not based on evidence against Ziegler’s being sane. It’s based on the claim that there’s a lack of evidence that Ziegler was sane. Also, the argument does not conclude that there’s a lack of evidence of Ziegler’s sanity. It concludes that Ziegler was insane.
c
It fails to ████████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ █ ███████████
The author concludes that Ziegler was insane at the time of the shot. If he was also insane when he worked as a consultant, that doesn’t suggest Ziegler might have been sane at the time of the shot. So, the possibility described by (C) does not undermine the author’s reasoning.
d
It presumes that ███████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████████ ███ █████ ████████
Moral responsibility has nothing to do with the argument. The author’s conclusion is that Ziegler was insane at the time he fired the shot. The conclusion is not that Ziegler shouldn’t be held morally responsible.
e
It fails to ████████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████████
The accusers have submitted evidence that Ziegler was sane after the shot. If this constitutes evidence that Ziegler was sane at the time of the shot, then the author’s conclusion doesn’t follow from the premises.