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Anna: Did you know that rainbows always occur opposite the sun, appearing high in the sky when the sun is low, and low in the sky when the sun is high. ███ █████ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ████
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Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
William concludes that Pliny the Elder’s claim about rainbows must be false. As support, William references other writings from Pliny that are clearly false.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is a source attack (also known as ad hominem). Without providing any commentary on the merits of Pliny’s claim about rainbows, William says that Pliny’s claim cannot be correct. William just references other completely unrelated claims made by Pliny. While this could be support for the conclusion that “we shouldn’t accept Anna’s rainbow trivia as true without further inquiry,” it’s not support for the conclusion that William actually makes, which is that Pliny’s claim “cannot be correct.”
1.
William's argument against Anna's claims █████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██
a
inappropriately distorts Anna's ███████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ██
b
takes for granted ████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ██████████ █████████
c
illicitly infers that, ███████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ███████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ █████████
d
accepts the assertions ██ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ████████████ ████████████ ██ ████ █████████ █████
e
implies that Pliny ███ ███████ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ██ ███ █████