The Little Blue Reasoning Book - Brandon Royal [62]
Choice B is incorrect because it forms an unwarranted comparison that is not assumed in the argument. We do not know whether a new Sweet Spot Putter will improve an amateur’s game more than it will improve a professional’s game or vice-versa. Likewise, choice D is incorrect because we do not know whether the new Sweet Spot Putter is superior to any other putter currently on the market. For all we know, the Sweet Spot Putter is just one of three new miracle putters.
Per choice E, we also have no way of knowing whether lessons are, or are not, as effective at improving the accuracy of a player’s putting as is the use of quality equipment.
Author’s note: Broadly speaking, representative sample assumptions are applicable any time that we argue from the particular to the general. Surveys or questionnaires are so often used as the basis for representative sample assumptions, as seen in problem 14, titled Movie Buffs. In the previous problem, titled Bull Market, the strength of the Indian economy (the “general”) is based on the strength of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) index (the “particular”). In the problem at hand, success in the game of golf is assumed to rest primarily on the ability to make putts. Here again, we argue primarily from the particular (“putting”) to the general (“golf”).
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“Good Evidence” Assumptions
Problem 17: Critic’s Choice
Choice C. Since there are certainly far more than 100 contemporary and 100 non-contemporary novels to choose from, a question arises as to whether those novels chosen are representative of the entire population of contemporary and non-contemporary novels. It is possible that the author of Decline of the Novelist chose novels which best supported his/her thesis — that today’s novelists are not as skillful as the novelists of yesteryear. Choice A might weaken the argument slightly but certainly wouldn’t weaken it seriously. Choice B, while highly plausible, is irrelevant to the argument because the author focuses his/her argument on technical skill. Choice D is simply out of scope since we don’t know anything about the literary skill required to do screenplays. Choice E is irrelevant; it doesn’t matter whether the average reader is familiar with the terms of literary criticism; it only matters that the book’s author is familiar with these terms.
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Problem 18: Temperament
Choice E. This is an example of proof by selected instances. Each person — Steve and John — will simply choose examples which support his intended claim. Steve picks red-haired people who have bad tempers to support his claim that red-haired people are bad tempered. John picks red-haired people who have good tempers to support his claim that red-haired people are not bad-tempered. The fact that the number of red-haired people (choice A) that one person knows is more or less than the number of red-haired people that the other person knows has no clear effect on reconciling the two statements. In fact, it is quite possible that the percentage of red-haired people that each knows is quite close, say five percent. After all that’s the magic of percentages as opposed to numbers — percentages express things in relative terms. In choice B, it is only plausible that the number of red-haired people both Steve and John know would be, in aggregate, less than the total of non-red-haired people both know. Confirmation of this likely reality will not reconcile the two seemingly contradictory statements.
It is also unclear whether choice C has any effect. Any mis-assessments may prove net positive or net negative or may have a counterbalancing effect. It is almost axiomatic that both Steve and John know of friends who are not red-haired and have bad tempers, but this will do nothing to reconcile