#14 - Franklin: The only clue I have as to the identity of

[alex.r.berson@gmail.com]

Hi there,

I'm having trouble figuring out why (E) is a worse answer than (A) - Franklin assumes that, if the handwriting matched, it'd be Miller and that seems to be more a flaw, along the lines of a false dilemma (it's not X, so it's Y), than the random information that comes from outside the world of the problem in (A).

Help please!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi alex,

The main problem with Answer E is that this isn't what actually happens in the argument.

Franklin suspects Miller for reasons other than the handwriting and only eliminates Miller because the handwriting does not match Miller's.

Also, for all we know, if the handwriting had in fact been Miller's, that (possibly combined with Miller's apparent motive) may very well have been sufficient evidence to ascertain that Miller was the culprit. (It may not reach "beyond a reasonable doubt" standards, but this isn't a court of law.)

The flaw in this argument is that the fact that the handwriting doesn't match Miller's doesn't fully exonerate Miller (because of the possibility that she had accomplices), but that doesn't mean that if the handwriting did match Miller's, it would be a flaw to ascertain that she is responsible.