Flawed Parallel ReasoningDiff: Hardest
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Just because a large group of people has some members who lack a certain title, the speaker assumes that a smaller group chosen from that large group must also have members who lack that title.
Conclusion: It is certain that not every member of the linguistics department is a full professor.
Reasoning: The argument assumes that because the general group of tenured faculty includes some people who are not full professors, any specific sub-group of tenured faculty (like the linguistics department) must also include some people who are not full professors.
Analysis: This argument commits a flaw of distribution, specifically assuming that a characteristic of a general class must be present in every specific subset of that class. While it is true that 'not all' tenured faculty are full professors, it is entirely possible that the linguistics department happens to be composed exclusively of the tenured faculty who *are* full professors. To find the parallel, look for an answer that takes a general 'some are not' or 'not all' statement and incorrectly forces that diversity onto a specific, smaller group. It's like saying because not all cars are red, the cars in this specific parking lot cannot all be red.
Conclusion: It is certain that not every member of the linguistics department is a full professor.
Reasoning: The argument assumes that because the general group of tenured faculty includes some people who are not full professors, any specific sub-group of tenured faculty (like the linguistics department) must also include some people who are not full professors.
Analysis: This argument commits a flaw of distribution, specifically assuming that a characteristic of a general class must be present in every specific subset of that class. While it is true that 'not all' tenured faculty are full professors, it is entirely possible that the linguistics department happens to be composed exclusively of the tenured faculty who *are* full professors. To find the parallel, look for an answer that takes a general 'some are not' or 'not all' statement and incorrectly forces that diversity onto a specific, smaller group. It's like saying because not all cars are red, the cars in this specific parking lot cannot all be red.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage21.The flawed pattern of reasoning exhibited by the argument above is most similar to that exhibited by which one of the following?
Correct Answer
C
It matches the flawed form: Some F (buildings by famous architects) are not well proportioned; all G (government buildings) are F; therefore, some G are not well proportioned. This wrongly assumes the ill-proportioned F’s fall within the subset G.
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