PT114.S2.Q23

PrepTest 114 - Section 2 - Question 23

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Reviewer: Although finalism—the view that there are purposes in nature—has been universally rejected, Support this book launches another attack on that view. ███ █████████ ███ █████ ██ █ ████████ ████████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ██ █████ ██ █ ████████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████ ████████

Method of Reasoning

This argument starts by telling us that a certain belief (finalism) has been universally rejected. It then adds that a book has provided a new argument against that belief, but the argument in the book is flawed. Because the book’s argument against finalism is flawed, the stimulus concludes that finalism is more plausible than it has been believed to be.

Identify and Describe Flaw

This is the cookie-cutter flaw of lack of support vs. false conclusion, wherein the author assumes a conclusion is false simply because the argument in support of that conclusion is weak. The stimulus declares that finalism is more plausible than previously believed, simply because one of the arguments against it is not sound. That’s not a valid argument in any circumstance, but in this case it’s even more egregious—we know that before the book, there was at least one other argument against finalism, because finalism was already universally rejected. The author offers no description of or evidence against that pre-existing argument!

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23.

Which one of the following ██ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████

a

No literary historian █████ ████████ ███ █████ ████ █ ██████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████ ██████ ████ █ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████

b

Few botanists deny ████ █ ████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████

c

Bicycle engineers no ██████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ████ █ █████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ █████████ ███ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ████ █ █████ ████████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████████

d

Experts agree that ███ █████ ████ ████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ████████ ███ ████ █████████ █████████ ████████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████

e

Sociologists agree that ███ █████████████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██████ ███████████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ███████████████ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ████████ █████ ███████████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ██ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ███████████

Confirm action

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