some/many in answer choices

jhan15

Hey everyone, I am really confused about the use of 'many' (or some) in LR answer choices.
In some cases many/some is dismissed as insignificant because it doesn't really influence the whole sample size.
In other cases many/some actually weakens an argument because they serve as counterexamples.

For example, PT 53 Sec 3 #9, "Many people who regularly consume camellia tea also regularly consume other beverages suspected of causing kidney damage." --> I thought this 'many' doesn't do anything to the argument since many = some, and the fact that what happens to only 'some' ppl doesn't wreck the whole argument. But as it turns out this answer choice is correct ;(
But in other cases, I've seen answer choices with 'some/many' and they are not made correct answer choices because only some cannot wreck the whole argument.

How do I make judgment as to whether the presence of some/many could really wreck the argument or not?

Thank you all!!

David Wayne

It only takes some people to create the correlation that weakens the argument's link between its premise and conclusion. If some people who are in this group also partake in kidney damaging activities then the evidence in favor of a competing conclusion is just as strong. The argument itself cites a correlation that necessarily applies only to 'some', or 'many' people. If we add E as a premise, we have an additional correlation that leaves us with two conclusions that are equally likely, precisely because both conclusions are substantiated with some statements.

The correlation between consumption of the tea and kidney damage is necessarily applied to 'some' drinkers of the tea; it's not most drinkers. It could be that only 25% of drinkers have kidney disease. But with E as an additional premise, we know that some of our tea drinkers are consuming kidney damaging beverages. We thus have two competing 'some' statements that both give rise to alternating conclusions; it could be, as the argument wants to prove, that the tea is doing the damage, or it could be, as E suggests, that these other beverages are doing it. E's possibility isn't more likely than the argument's conclusion, but its existence and occurrence in our world, if it were true (which we assume when taking an answer choice into consideration) thereby weakens the argument.

I think your question is incredibly important and i'd really love to hear what other 7sagers have to think. This is also an important question in general because of the trap laid by D, but that's another discussion entirely.

jhan15

Hey Christian, thank you so much for the kind explanation!
So if 'some' suffices to weaken an argument-- what about #8 in pt 53 in section 1? Answer choice E says "...several of the children who had slept with night-lights as infants were near sighted." This one does not weaken the argument because it is only several (some)
I read a comment that 'several' here is not the problem but that we don't know if this nearsightedness is caused by the night lights.
If this answer choice included a phrase that said something like "several of the chilren who had slept with night lights whose nearsightedness is caused by sleeping with night lights on" then could this answer choice wreck the argument, even if it is only some?
I am really confused.
Thanks for your input!

David Wayne

First of all don't be dismayed by missing #8, as its an incredibly difficult question for being that early on in the section.

Before looking at E first make sure you understand why D is correct. The several in this answer choice is indeed synonymous to some, but that's not where the answer choice fails to weaken the argument. Its quite possible that some of those who slept with night lights could be nearsighted. Do we know anything about the rest of the group? It's not saying that the entire group slept with night lights and many of them are nearsighted, so this 4th study really does very little to help us. It just says that of these 100 kids, some of the ones who slept with night lights (notice that this subgroup is 3 layers into the group of 100!) were nearsighted. Ultimately we just can't say for sure what caused their nearsightedness with any certainty.

Some is very context-specific. That's not a very helpful piece of advice but it is nonetheless true. I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts on E from that section in terms of its use of some.