Self-study
Wei: A respected automobile expert claims that most cars will develop transmission problems unless their transmissions are serviced at least once every three years. ███ ████ █████ ██ ██████ █ ████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████ █ ████ █████ ███ ███ ████████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ████ █████████ █ ████████████ ████████
Isolating The Flaw
The argument attempts to negate a “most” claim (most cars that don't get serviced develop problems) with a few anecdotal counterexamples (Wei's two cars).
"Most" just means more than half, so maybe Wei's cars are just in the minority of cars without transmission problems.
10.
The pattern of flawed reasoning ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
My veterinarian told ██ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ████████ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████████ █ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ██████
(A) mirrors the stimulus. It attempts to negate a “most” claim (most cats with no cleanings will develop gum problems) with an anecdotal counterexample (my cat).
b
Car dealers claim ████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ████ █ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██████
(B) exhibits a different common flaw: the ad-hominem fallacy. It attacks car dealers' motives instead of their claim itself.
c
A high-ranking traffic ██████ ████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █ █████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █ ████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████
(C)'s lack of a "most" statement is the cleanest reason it's wrong.
The counterexamples also run opposite to those in the stimulus. To match more closely, (C) should read "I drive over the speed limit all the time and have never had an accident."
d
Boot manufacturers claim ████ █ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ █████ █ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████
(D) exhibits a different common flaw: a domain shift from "good boots" to "the boots I got on sale at The Discount Store."
e
A study of █████ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ███████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ████
(E) exhibits a different common flaw: it assumes that a past trend will continue to hold in the future.