Self-study
Several movie critics have claimed that this movie will inspire people to act in socially irresponsible ways, yet Support this claim relies entirely on survey data that have turned out to be deeply flawed. ████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ████████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author concludes that the critics’ claim is false. The author supports this with the fact that the critics’ claim is based on data that is flawed.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author mistakenly assumes that a conclusion based on flawed data cannot be true. This overlooks the distinction between lack of support and a false conclusion. Although the critics’ claim might not be supported well due to flawed evidence, the claim could still be true.
12.
The argument is flawed in ████ ██
a
infers that a █████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████
The author infers that the critics’ claim is false merely on the grounds that the data offered for it is unsatisfactory (because it was flawed). This reasoning is flawed because the critics’ claim can still be true despite being based on bad data.
b
fails to consider ████ █ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ██ █ ████████ ██████████ ████ █ █████ █████
The author’s conclusion didn’t say that the critics’ claim is more harmful to the moviemakers’ reputations than some other kind of claim. So the possibility (B) describes doesn’t affect the argument.
c
relies on a ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ████████████████
The author’s premise asserts that the data underlying the critics’ study was flawed. Pointing out the evidence underlying someone else’s argument is flawed doesn’t constitute using a sample.
d
attacks the persons ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████
The author doesn’t attack the critics. She attacks the critics’ data underlying their conclusion.
e
fails to consider █████ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████
The problem with the author’s argument is that she hasn’t shown the critics’ conclusion is false. So an answer that points out what might be true if the critics’ conclusion is false doesn’t undermine the argument. We want to point out why the critics’ conclusion might be true.