Self-study
A psychiatrist argued that Conclusion there is no such thing as a multiple personality disorder on the grounds that Support in all her years of clinical practice, she had never encountered one case of this type.
Method of Reasoning
The psychiatrist concludes that something doesn’t exist because she has no evidence supporting its existence.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This argument features a cookie-cutter flaw based on a lack of evidence. Just because there is no evidence supporting a claim does not make that claim false. For example, maybe the disorder is incredibly rare, or the psychiatrist hasn’t seen that many patients.
The right answer will feature this same reasoning: Someone concluding something doesn’t exist because they have no evidence that it does.
8.
Which one of the following ████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████████ █████████ █████ ██████
a
Anton concluded that █████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ █ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █ █████
Wrong flaw. Anton concludes that something is seldom fatal due to a lack of evidence, which is flawed since we don’t know if Anton has seen enough patients to draw this conclusion. The stimulus concludes that something is definitely not real due to a lack of evidence, however, so (A) doesn’t match.
b
Lyla said that ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████ █ █████████ ███ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████
Wrong flaw. (B) concludes that something is probably not real due to a lack of evidence, but the stimulus concludes that something is definitely not real due to a lack of evidence, so (B) doesn’t match.
c
Sauda argued that ███████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████
Wrong flaw. We’re given evidence that a treatment is usually not effective, and a conclusion stating that the treatment should not be pursued. This is flawed because the treatment might still help in this instance. The stimulus, however, concludes that something isn’t real because of a total lack of evidence, so (C) doesn’t match.
d
Thomas argued that ███████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ██ ████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ██ █████
Wrong flaw. We’re given a past trend (Natasha driving to work) and a conclusion that incorrectly assumes this trend will continue in the future. The stimulus, however, concludes that something isn’t real because of a lack of evidence, so (D) doesn’t match.
e
Jerod had never ███████ █ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████
Jerod concludes that something doesn’t exist (deer in his area) because he has no evidence supporting their existence. The psychiatrist from the stimulus also concludes that something doesn’t exist because she has no evidence supporting its existence, so (E) matches.