Logical Reasoning

PT124 · S3 · Q17 Lawyer: A body of circumstantial

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Lawyer: A body of circumstantial evidence is like a rope, and each item of evidence is like a strand of that rope.

Conclusion (thus)

Even if a few items of a body of circumstantial evidence are discredited, the overall body of evidence retains its basic strength.

Evidence

A body of circumstantial evidence is like a rope, and each item of evidence is like a strand of that rope.

Just as additional pieces of circumstantial evidence strengthen the body of evidence, adding strands to the rope strengthens the rope.

And if one strand breaks, the rope is not broken nor is its strength much diminished.

Evaluate

The argument assumes that the impact of losing a strand of a rope on the overall strength of that rope and the impact of losing an item of circumstantial evidence on the overall strength of the body of evidence is similar.

When authors lean on analogies, we try to object to those arguments by pointing out salient differences.

How would we potentially argue that ?

Maybe we could say that those few items might be really important to the case, or maybe they are important to other pieces of evidence (i.e. if you lose certain pieces, you might simultaneously then lose other pieces that were contingent on that piece).

These would point out ways in which a body of circumstantial evidence is disanalogous to the strands of rope: the strands of the rope are generally similar in quality and strengthening-effect and don't rely on other strands, whereas some pieces of circumstantial evidence might have more strengthening power than others and might rely on other pieces of evidence.

Goal

Look for an answer pointing out a potential difference between bodies of evidence and a rope made up of strands, so that we can argue that it's possible that losing a few pieces of circumstantial evidence could really mess with the strength of your case.

17.

The reasoning in the lawyer's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument

  1. Correct

    takes for granted that no

    Why this is right

    This defends the argument from something that would be devastating to the argument. If some evidence was more important than other evidence, then the loss of an important piece of evidence could undermine the overall body of evidence.

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

    72% picked this

  2. presumes, without providing justification, that

    Irrelevant Comparison

    Whether the strength of a body of evidence is less than the sum of the strengths of the parts of that body or is greater than a multiple of the parts of that body is not relevant to the argument.

    3% picked this

  3. fails to consider the possibility

    Trap

    Bad Objection (out of scope: many items) The argument is about what would happen if a few pieces of evidence (3 or 4) were discredited. The author thinks if only a few strands of the rope are lost, the rope is still pretty much the same, and if only a few pieces of evidence are discredited, the case is largely the same. But if many pieces were discredited, that could be an entirely different story. Many doesn't have a precise quantitative minimum, but we functionally use a shorthand like "at least 5 / at least 10 / at least a handful". Saying "many of my friends vape" is a stronger statement than saying "a few of my friends vape", so this potential objection would be beyond the scope of what the conclusion is addressing.

    16% picked this

  4. offers an analogy in support

    Contradiction

    The argument does indicate that the two types of things compared share at least one similarity; adding strands to a rope strengthens it, just as additional pieces of circumstantial evidence strengthen the body of evidence.

    7% picked this

  5. draws a conclusion that simply

    Wrong Flaw

    The argument’s conclusion is not stated as a premise. This describes the famous Circular Reasoning flaw, which shows up a ton as an incorrect answer but is almost never correct.

    2% picked this

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