#23 - Councillor Miller opposes all proposals to raise taxes

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Parallel Flaw. The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

[ChicaRosa]

Why is answer choice B correct and not C?

I thought C was correct because there's a contradiction within the answer choices reasoning but I wasn't sure what the flaw in the stimulus' reasoning was exactly.

Is the flaw in the stimulus is just because one supports something doesn't mean they'll support something similar to it?

Thanks!

[Adam Tyson]

I think you got it in your analysis, ChicaRosa - just because Philopoulos supports increased funding for schools does not mean he will support this method of doing so; just because Denise wants a penthouse apartment does not mean she will rent one in this building. General support for a concept does not guarantee support for any one specific application of that concept.

C goes off the rails in two ways. First, it's valid - he's going to oppose any increase, so he will oppose this increase. There's no problem going from "none" to "not this one". Second, it leaves out the second half of the stimulus we are trying to parallel. Where's the second party that will do something opposite of what the mayor will do? Without that part (which is where the flaw here lies), we aren't similar to the stimulus, and we aren't even flawed.

Good job figuring it out after the fact! That's the goal of analysis and practice, to learn from those mistakes and carry forward what you have learned to apply to similar situations in the future. Nice!

[AAron24!]

Why is Answer Choice A wrong?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi AAron,

Whenever you see a parallel flaw question, you want to start by identifying the flaw in the stimulus. How would we describe what went wrong in the stimulus? Miller opposes ALL tax increases. Philopoulos supports increased funding for schools. But the argument goes awry when it says he will support this tax increase. We don't know he would support every way of increasing funding. He may feel that redistribution of taxes makes more sense than an increase. The main issue is we don't know, so we can't draw a conclusion that he would definitely support the property tax increase.

For answer choice (A) then, we are looking for a flaw where the author jumps from supporting something in general to supporting a very specific method of doing so. Answer choice (A) is sort of flipped around. It says that Tara generally find papers easier because a specific instance of her doing so. That's moving from instance to generalization. Our stimulus moved from a generalized position to a specific position.

By the way, you'll get the most out of the forum if you can tell us a bit more about your thought process. Why was answer choice (A) tempting for you? What lead you away from answer choice (B)? These sorts of details can help us tailor a response more to your individual process.

Hope that helps!
Rachael