Logical Reasoning

PT21 · S3 · Q7 Of all the photographs taken of

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Of all the photographs taken of him at his wedding, there was one that John and his friends sharply disagreed about.

Given that ...

all John's friends said this picture doesn't really resemble him,

How can we explain that ...

John thinks it's the only picture of him that does resemble him?

Evaluate / Goal

In order for John and his friends to be so sharply divided about this photo, the answer will have to tell us something about the photo that would distinguish how his friends see it vs. how he sees it.

Maybe John is an ugly dude but doesn't know it, so the one photo that makes him look handsome looks "right" to him but looks wrong to all his friends.

7.

Which one of the following, if true about the photograph, most helps to explain John’s disagreement with his friends?

  1. It, unlike the other photographs

    No Distinction

    If this photo showed him in casual clothing, which is what he and his friends usually wear, then he would have the same reaction to it that his friends have. They are on equal footing when it comes to seeing him in casual clothing.

    17% picked this

  2. It was the only photograph

    Unclear Impact

    There's no common sense reason why his friends would react to a flash photo in a way that's different from how John would react to it.

    6% picked this

  3. It was a black-and-white photograph,

    Unclear Impact

    There's no common sense reason why his friends would react to a black-and-white photo in a way that's different from how John would react to it.

    3% picked this

  4. Correct

    It was unique in showing

    Why this is right

    Is there a common sense reason why John's friends would have a different reaction than John would to a picture of John's face in the mirror? Sure. John has seen his face in a mirror a million times. His friends have probably never (or almost never) looked at his face in a mirror. This is also playing off the fact that mirrors reverse the image we see from left-to-right. Say that you're wearing an earring all the time in your left ear only. When you look at yourself in a mirror, the earring is on the left side of the face you're looking at. But when your friends look at you (while you're wearing an earring on your left ear), they are seeing an earring to the right of your face. So in this photo taken of John in the mirror, the earring would be to the left of his face, which looks correct to John (who sees this everyday in the mirror) but would look wrong to his friends, who are used to looking at his actual face and thus see his left earring to the right of his face.

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

    70% picked this

  5. It was one of only

    Unclear Impact

    There's no common sense reason why his friends would react to a solo picture of John in a way that's different from how John would react to it.

    3% picked this

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