Self-study
Ray: Cynthia claims that her car's trunk popped open because the car hit a pothole. ████ ███ ████ ████████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████ █████████ ███ ███ ███ ███ █ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █ ████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that Cynthia’s trunk did not pop open as a result of a pothole. This is based on the fact that her trunk has popped open for reasons other than a pothole on other occasions.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author overlooks the possibility that there can be multiple independent causes for Cynthia’s trunk popping open. Even if other occasions involved other causes, the particular occasion the argument is about could have involved a pothole causing the trunk to pop open.
4.
The reasoning in Ray's argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████
a
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████████
The argument concerns Cynthia’s car and what caused it to pop open. The author does not have to have any belief about whether other cars’ trunks can pop open due to potholes.
b
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ █ █████ ██████
The argument concerns the cause of Cynthia’s trunk popping open. Whether the engine was affected has no bearing on the cause of the trunk popping open.
c
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ █ █████ █████
The author did not reason that the trunk couldn’t have popped open from a pothole because the pothole already caused something else.
d
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ████
The author overlooks that one type of event (Cynthia’s trunk popping open) can be caused in many different ways. This points out that even if the trunk popped open for other reasons on other occasions, it could have popped open on this occasion due to a pothole.
e
presumes the truth ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ █████████
The author did not assume the conclusion as part of the reasoning. The reasoning involves other occasions on which the pothole popped open. It doesn’t involve a restatement of the conclusion that on this occasion the trunk didn’t pop open from a pothole.