- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Oct 19, 2022
- Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:08 pm
#100682
Hi yufenz,
Ruling out possible alternate causes is generally a very good way to strengthen a causal argument, and your example would eliminate several possible causes, so in that sense it could be a possible right answer in another question (assuming that we didn't also have Answer E).
In this particular question, Answer E would still be the better answer because it eliminates the biggest flaw in the argument, namely the possibility that the throat abnormalities cause the snoring (which on the face of it, seems like it would be the more reasonable interpretation of the data. It seems more likely that damage to the throat would cause snoring by partially blocking the air passage, for example, rather than snoring causing throat damage, although we don't know for sure). As long as the possibility exists that throat abnormalities cause the snoring, this argument will be seriously flawed and even ruling out a few alternate causes won't really do much to strengthen it.
Ruling out possible alternate causes is generally a very good way to strengthen a causal argument, and your example would eliminate several possible causes, so in that sense it could be a possible right answer in another question (assuming that we didn't also have Answer E).
In this particular question, Answer E would still be the better answer because it eliminates the biggest flaw in the argument, namely the possibility that the throat abnormalities cause the snoring (which on the face of it, seems like it would be the more reasonable interpretation of the data. It seems more likely that damage to the throat would cause snoring by partially blocking the air passage, for example, rather than snoring causing throat damage, although we don't know for sure). As long as the possibility exists that throat abnormalities cause the snoring, this argument will be seriously flawed and even ruling out a few alternate causes won't really do much to strengthen it.