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- Mon Feb 24, 2025 6:11 pm
#112056
Hi rdentlyyours,
Realizing that Debbie could be switching methods each time is a very good prephrase for this question.
Because the argument concludes that Debbie did not use any of the three methods, the flaw is that Debbie could have used one or more of the three methods during the tests. For example, she could have used a planted "volunteer" for the first two trials and then used sleight of hand for the last trial.
While it is possible that Debbie used methods other than these three, that is not the flaw. The flaw is that these three separate trials do not prove that she used none of these techniques. The skeptic should have tested all three techniques at once in order to rule them all out.
While it isn't explicitly mentioned, it seems reasonable that Debbie would realize that she's being tested and would alter her methods accordingly if she had been using one or more of these methods. Again, it is possible that she wasn't using any of these methods, but we cannot tell based on these three separate trials.
Answer A matches your prephrase and is correct.
Answer C is not the flaw because if Debbie needed a trick deck, then she should not have been able to correctly pick the card with the deck that the skeptic gave her, which she was able to do. (I suppose that she could have used sleight of hand to swap the entire deck, but that would also require knowing exactly what the deck that the skeptic would use looks like and having a trick deck that looks exactly the same.)
Realizing that Debbie could be switching methods each time is a very good prephrase for this question.
Because the argument concludes that Debbie did not use any of the three methods, the flaw is that Debbie could have used one or more of the three methods during the tests. For example, she could have used a planted "volunteer" for the first two trials and then used sleight of hand for the last trial.
While it is possible that Debbie used methods other than these three, that is not the flaw. The flaw is that these three separate trials do not prove that she used none of these techniques. The skeptic should have tested all three techniques at once in order to rule them all out.
While it isn't explicitly mentioned, it seems reasonable that Debbie would realize that she's being tested and would alter her methods accordingly if she had been using one or more of these methods. Again, it is possible that she wasn't using any of these methods, but we cannot tell based on these three separate trials.
Answer A matches your prephrase and is correct.
Answer C is not the flaw because if Debbie needed a trick deck, then she should not have been able to correctly pick the card with the deck that the skeptic gave her, which she was able to do. (I suppose that she could have used sleight of hand to swap the entire deck, but that would also require knowing exactly what the deck that the skeptic would use looks like and having a trick deck that looks exactly the same.)