Self-study
Historian: Conclusion Those who claim that Shakespeare did not write the plays commonly attributed to him are motivated purely by snobbery. ███████████ ███ ███ ███ ██ █ █████ ██████ ███████ █████ █████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███████████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ████████████ ████████████
Summarize Argument
The author cocnludes that those who claim Shakespeare didn’t write the plays attributed to him are motivated purely by snobbery. This is based on the fact that Shakespeare’s background wasn’t aristocratic, while the backgrounds of those who are proposed as the true authors are aristocratic. In addition, the people saying Shakespeare didn’t write the plays are related to those aristocrats.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author provides no evidence that the people who claim Shakespeare didn’t write the plays are motivated only by snobbery. Instead, he assumes that their claims result only from the unprestigious background of Shakespeare and the familial ties to those proposed as the true authors. This overlooks the possibility that those who claim Shakespeare was not the author are motivated partly by things besides snobbery.
18.
The reasoning in the historian's ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
a
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ █ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
The author’s argument doesn’t concern whether claims about Shakespeare’s authorship are true. The conclusion is only about the motivation of those who claim Shakespeare did not author the plays.
b
takes for granted ████ ██████ ███ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ████████
Logically, one who is motivated “purely” by snobbery can’t be motivated by anything else. So (B) isn’t an assumption. In any case, the author doesn’t assume what happens IF one is motivated purely by snobbery. He assumes that something implies one is motivated purely by snobbery.
c
fails to consider ██████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███
The argument concerns those who claim Shakespeare did not write the plays. There is no assumption concerning those who claim Shakespeare DID write the plays.
d
fails to exclude ███ ███████████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ █████████████ ██████████
This possibility shows why the conclusion doesn’t follow. There might be legitimate evidence concerning authorship that is motivating those who say Shakespeare didn’t write the plays. If so, this means they are not motivated “purely” by snobbery.
e
makes use of ██ ██████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████████
(E) is akin to circular reasoning. But the author doesn’t assume anything that restates the conclusion.