PTFeb97.S1.Q24 - the last outdoor drive in movie theater

pstroud97

There are no video explanations for this PT ): I got this correct originally and then in BR changed my answer to E. Can anyone explain why C is correct? I can't seem to find the rationale I used last weekend to pick it.

Thanks in advance!

jmarmaduke96

I struggle alot with Parallel Flaw questions, but I will do my best. To me it seems that the stimulus is committing a part to whole fallacy. It assumes that since last week the theater was sold out every night (the part) the owners claim about poor audience size is false. In other words, the audience size in general is alright (the whole). So I looked for an answer choice that made a similar part to whole fallacy. C does make that mistake, it assumes that since all of the students who came to the meeting were opposed to the cuts in library funding (the part) then all of the currently enrolled students (the whole) must also be opposed.

Answer choice E on the other hand does not make this error. E is making a sort of comparison type error. E says that the library's funding must be cut because of the poor library funding drive, but the athletic department's budget is being increased. First of all, these are both parts of the same whole (a college or high school I am assuming), so there is no part to whole fallacy. Secondly, maybe the athletic department was able to expand its budget because their funding drive was successful, perhaps people just like sports more than books, there are a host of reasons that the facts in the stimulus could be true without having to conclude that the administration's claim about cutting the library's funding is false. But that's beside the point. The point is that there is no part to whole fallacy. For E to be correct it would have had to say something like "The administration claims that the library's funding must be cut because of its history of poor library fund drives. However, the library fund drive this year was exceptional. Therefore, the administration's claim must be false." In that case it would have been committing the same error, assuming that since the most recent fund drive (the part) was exceptional, that applies to the history of fund drives (the whole). I hope that helps!

pstroud97

@jmarmaduke96 Thank you so much! I think that is why I ended up picking C first - not sure what happened when I did my BR. I appreciate the help.