Self-study
Roger Bacon, the thirteenth-century scientist, is said to have made important discoveries in optics. ██ ███ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████████████████ ███ ██ █ ███████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████████████ █████████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ███ ██████████████ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ ███ █████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author concludes that Bacon’s work on optics should be disregarded, even though it’s generally respected. His reasoning is that Bacon appealed to authority to support his arguments, despite hypocritically warning others not to do so.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is a cookie-cutter attacking the source of the argument (ad hominem) flaw. The author attacks the source of certain ideas about optics, without attacking the ideas themselves.
14.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████
a
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████
The author doesn’t make any presumptions about how often expert authority is (or isn’t) correct. His argument is based on Bacon’s inconsistency in sometimes relying on expert authority and sometimes not.
b
attacks Bacon's uncritical ████████ ██ █████████ ███████
The author’s critique isn’t that Bacon relies on authority opinion. It’s that he’s inconsistent about doing so: sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t.
c
uses Bacon's remarks ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████████
Bacon’s remarks to his students could legitimately be used as evidence of his opinions. The author’s flaw is thinking that Bacon’s other opinions can be used to discredit his work on optics.
d
ignores the fact ████ ██████████████████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████ █████
On the contrary, the author’s entire argument is meant to discredit the work of a thirteenth-century scientist.
e
criticizes Bacon's character ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ ████████
The author accuses Bacon of hypocrisy in order to undermine Bacon’s findings about optics. This is the cookie-cutter ad hominem flaw: Bacon’s other opinions or character traits aren’t relevant to his discoveries about optics.