#21 - Opposition leader: Our country has the least fair

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Parallel Flaw. The correct answer choice is (B)

This is a tricky question for many test takers, as the flaw is somewhat difficult to spot. The error in this reasoning is an error of division (as discussed in Lesson 7): the attributes of the whole court system are presumed to apply to each part of the court system (in this case, the highest court). The correct answer will provide information about an entire thing, and then conclude that same information about a component piece of that larger thing.

Answer choice (A): The premise is comparing people who live in medium-sized towns to people in other types of towns. We are then told that both Maureen and Monica live in a medium-sized town (Monica just moved to one), so the comparison between the two does not reflect the comparison in the premise. Thus this answer does not parallel the stimulus where the comparison (our country vs. other countries on the continent) stays consistent throughout.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The attribute of philosophy or engineering as a whole is presented (most demanding major), and then that attribute is presumed to be true for a piece of those majors (intro course is most demanding).

Answer choice (C): This answer choice does not give a piece of the whole in its conclusion, as the premise is about racing cars and the conclusion is about passenger cars (cannot be thought to be related).

Answer choice (D): This answer merely compares cats’ and tigers’ eating habits based on the fact that the two are closely related. No division error occurs however, as no part-of-a-whole idea is presented.

Answer choice (E): This answer choice does not present a conclusion about a smaller piece of a larger group, but merely makes a prediction about the behavior of the lawyers.

[kcho10]

Hi,
Could someone please verify my reasoning?

The flaw here seems to me that there is a shift from the whole to its constituent parts

for answer choice (A), I see a number of things wrong with this answer but is the main problem that there is a shift from residents to people who are born there?
Also, would this answer choice be a more viable contender if there was no shift from residents to people who are born there? It seems like there would be a shift from the whole to its parts if that were the case.

Also, is it acceptable for an answer choice to have more than one flaw if as long as one of those flaws is the one in the stimulus? Or is it automatically incorrect if there is another flaw that was never used?

I hope these questions make sense, and thank you in advance

[Steve Stein]

Hi Kcho,

That's a good question; the Opposition leader says that the country's court system is less fair than any other country on the continent, and concludes that the country's highest court must be less fair than the continent's other high courts. As you correctly point out, this is an error of composition, paralleled by correct answer choice (B): Since either philosophy or engineering is the most challenging major at a given school, this choice concludes, the introductory course in one of those two majors must be the most challenging introductory course. This is the same flaw as the one made by the author of the stimulus.

The author of answer choice (A) makes a mistake of a different sort, misunderstanding how averages work, apparently thinking that one derives an education over time by living in a medium sized town. This would explain the author's presumption that a person who has just moved to a medium-sized town must be less educated than one who was born there. Fairly unique flaw!

I hope that's helpful—please let me know whether this is clear—thanks!

~Steve