Self-study
All the evidence so far gathered fits both Dr. █████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████
Method of Reasoning
The available evidence supports both Dr. Grippen’s theory and Professor Heissmann’s but the predictions of each of their theories about the result of the planned experiment can’t both be true, so the experiment will confirm one of the theories but not the other.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is a cookie-cutter “false dichotomy” flaw. While it may be true that the predictions of each theory can’t be proven true by the experiment, it’s not necessarily true that one of the theories will be proven correct by the experiment.
The false dichotomy that the author puts forth is that one theory will absolutely be proven true by the experiment while the other will absolutely be proven false. However, it’s entirely possible that neither theory will be proven true.
22.
The argument above exhibits an █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
David and Jane ████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ███████████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ███████
No flaw. If David and Jane often disagree about whether they think a tree is a beech or an elm, then it has to be true that at least one of them is using an incorrect method for deciding whether a tree is a beech or an elm.
b
Although David thinks ███ ████ ████ ███ ███ █ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ████ ██ ████████████ ████ ███████ █████
No flaw. If Jane’s description of the tree is consistent with her opinion of the tree being an elm, and David thinks the tree is a beech, then Jane’s description has to, in some way, be inconsistent with David calling the tree a beech.
c
David and Jane ████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ██ ██ ████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████
Wrong flaw. (C) doesn’t rule out the possibility that both David and Jane could be wrong, so no dichotomy is presented. Alternatively, the stimulus argues that one theory must be right and the other wrong, which is the cookie-cutter “false dichotomy” flaw.
d
David thinks that █████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████ ██████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ███
No flaw. By definition, David’s view must either be true or false. (D) just points this out.
e
David thinks this ████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███████████████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████
David says a tree is a beech and Jane says it’s an elm. The argument in (E) says that when Maria gives her opinion, it’ll either verify David’s of Jane’s opinion. However, it’s possible Maria’s opinion will verify neither David nor Jane. (E) commits the same “false dichotomy” flaw as the stimulus.