Self-study
lianafaridnia857
Difference between "the author overlooks the possibility" vs "takes for granted that"
Hi! Does anyone know the difference between, "the author overlooks the possibility" vs "takes for granted that" and how can I differentiate it when looking at an argument? Thanks!
@matthewcsorrels859 said:
"The author overlooks the possibility..." implies that the author totally ignored something that could affect their argument. For instance, if you were given this argument:
"You are motivated by snobbery, so I shouldn't believe you when you say that it's not worth staying at a one star hotel."
and the question stem said: "This argument is flawed because the author overlooks the possibility that ___," a correct AC could be something like "the person motivated by snobbery doesn't have a separate, valid reason to recommend that you don't stay at the hotel" (disclaimer: I'm almost positive this AC isn't air tight. I didn't pull it from an actual LR question. It's just the first AC that came to my head). The point is, the author didn't take the AC for granted, he just didn't address it all. It wasn't an assumption of his argument, nor was it implied. It's just something he didn't address and it's something that could hurt his argument.
Alternatively, "The author takes from granted that..." implies that the author assumed something to arrive at their conclusion. They made some type of jump between the premises and the conclusion. It's not that they "overlooked" something, it's more that they thought it was fair to make some sort of assumption. Your job is to call out that assumption. For instance, if you were given this argument:
"The painting is blue. Therefore, the painting is beautiful."
and the question stem said, "This argument is flawed because the author takes for granted that ___," a correct AC could be something like, "because the painting is blue, it is beautiful" (again, this AC might not be perfect because I just made it up). It's not that the author "overlooked" this AC, it was just an unspoken part of their argument. You've got to call it out.
I hope this helps some!
This helped so much! I really appreciate it. Thank you.