PrepTest 125, Section 2, Question 22
Student: The publications of Professor Vallejo on the(69 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- AIt draws a(9 more words not shown)
- BIt presupposes the(5 more words not shown)
- CIt fails to(7 more words not shown)
- DIt mistakes the(6 more words not shown)
- EIt confuses inadequate(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Maybe glassblowing began in Egypt and we just don't have enough evidence to prove it.
That's the possibility the student skips. Professor Vallejo's work might undermine the evidence for Egypt without establishing another birthplace. 'We don't have a good enough reason to believe this' isn't the same as 'We have a good reason to believe the opposite.'
Imagine an upcoming election between two candidates. I might lack enough evidence to predict that the first candidate will win. That doesn't establish that the second candidate will win. I could simply not know yet. The same gap appears when the student goes from insufficient evidence for Egypt to a definite conclusion that glassblowing started elsewhere.
What we’re looking for
We might also wonder whether Vallejo is right, but the student says 'if Professor Vallejo is correct.' For this flaw question, grant that condition and test what follows. Even with Vallejo right about the inadequate evidence, the conclusion still goes too far.
Working the answers
- A
Disagreeing with most experts isn't automatically a reasoning error. A minority view could have better support than the majority view. The problem here is that the student's evidence doesn't establish the conclusion, not that the conclusion challenges something most historians believe.
- B
The student doesn't simply assume Vallejo is correct. Both the relevant premise and the conclusion include that condition. The argument is about what we should conclude if Vallejo is right. Our objection survives even when we grant that condition: insufficient evidence for Egypt still doesn't prove another origin.
- C
We don't need a complete standard for evaluating historical evidence to see the mistake. Accept that the evidence for Egypt is insufficient, as the argument asks us to do under its condition. It still doesn't follow that glassblowing began elsewhere. The error is the jump from the evidence's inadequacy to that conclusion.
- D
The passage says most historians have held the Egypt view for many years and still maintain it. That explains why this view is both traditional and held by the majority. The student doesn't assume every traditional view is a majority view or confuse the two ideas.
- ECorrect
The premise concerns inadequate evidence that a claim is true: we can't adequately establish an Egyptian origin. The conclusion treats that as evidence the claim is false: the origin must be somewhere else. But a claim can be true even when we lack enough evidence to establish it. The student needs evidence against Egypt, not merely a problem with the evidence for Egypt.
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