Logical Reasoning

PT101 · S3 · Q3 M: The Greek alphabet must have been invented

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M: The Greek alphabet must have been invented by some individual who knew the Phoenician writing system and who wanted to have some way of recording Homeric epics and thereby preserving expressions of a highly developed tradition of oral poetry.

M's Hypothesis

The Greek alphabet must have been invented by someone who knew Phoenician writing and wanted to record Homeric epics, thereby preserving oral poetry traditions.

P's Conclusion

That's crazy. It wasn't invented by someone who wanted to record Homeric epics.

P's Evidence

If you knew the epics well enough to write them down, you have no need for reading them. And you wouldn't be able to pass this off to someone else for them to read, since no one else knows this alphabet you just invented.

Evaluate

The word 'hypothesis' should always make us think in terms of Explain Curious Fact type ideas.

M is trying to solve the causal mystery of who invented the Greek alphabet.

P is disputing M's hypothesis. Is P offering an Alternative explanation? No. Is P undermining the plausibility of M's idea? Yes!

P is saying that theory makes no sense because what purpose could it have served for someone to invent an alphabet as a way to write down Homeric epics (that they already knew by heart and that no one else could read)!

Goal

Let's look for anything that matches. It might say something like

3.

Which one of the following is an argumentative strategy that P uses in responding to M?

  1. attacking M’s understanding of the

    Bad Description

    P never says anything about whether oral poetry has literary value or whether M misunderstands its value. P's attack is on the practical sense of M's scenario (who is the audience for the writing?), not on M's appreciation of the poetry.

    3% picked this

  2. disagreeing with M’s thesis without

    Bad Description

    P clearly does attempt to refute M, calling the hypothesis "laughable" and giving reasons to reject it.

    1% picked this

  3. challenging M’s knowledge of the

    Bad Description

    Nothing P says sounds like she is accusing M of not understanding the Phoenician writing system. She's just saying the story he's offering for who invented that the Greek alphabet doesn't make any sense.

    1% picked this

  4. Correct

    attempting to undermine M’s hypothesis

    Why this is right

    "Absurdity" is a pretty flexible word that can mean you're accusing something of being pointless / meaningless / self-contradictory / impossible. P is definitely trying to show that M's hypothesis makes no sense. Why would someone write something down for themselves that they already have memorized? That would be an absurd waste of time. Why would someone write something down for someone else in an alphabet they just invented? The other person wouldn't be able to read it, so that would be an absurd waste of time.

    Skill tested: Method · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    89% picked this

  5. providing an alternative interpretation of

    Bad Description

    P doesn't offer an alternative interpretation of any evidence. M doesn't really have any evidence. M's statement is just his theory about how the Greek alphabet system got invented. He doesn't support it with any evidence, so there is no evidence to be reinterpreted.

    6% picked this

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