LR Problem Set #5, Q 410

[smile22]

In this "flaw" question, I chose answer C.

Does the credited response describe a "false dilemma" flaw? Just because the traditional school was facilitated by the availability of inexpensive printed books, doesn't mean that their replacement with electronic media will result in the decline of the traditional school. So, even with the emergence of electronic media and the decline in the use of printed books, the traditional school could still survive. Is that the line of thought that I should have utilized in order to answer this questions correctly?

[Adam Tyson]

This one doesn't really qualify as a false dilemma, although I can see how you would go there. In order for a false dilemma to be present, you need to have an author who is assuming that there are only two possible outcomes, so that when one outcome won't happen the other must. It can be found where there is a distinct third possibility (usually that possibility is some variation of "stay the same", found in arguments that say things like "things won't get better, so they must get worse") or where there are many other possibilities ("John won't buy a Ford, so he must buy a Chevy" - ignoring the possibilities of Hondas and Toyotas and Dodges and even the possibility of not buying anything).

In this case the author didn't quite set it up that way. The argument wasn't "schools won't get better, so they must get worse" or even "schools won't succeed so therefore they must fail". That latter argument might not even be a false dilemma - what third alternative is there? Instead, the author's argument here more closely resembles a bad conditional argument - since inexpensive printed books were helpful in establishing traditional schools they must be necessary for those schools to continue to exist. The first part - books were helpful - isn't conditional, so the conditional conclusion based on it is flawed.

Answer C might be correct if the argument were more like "schools could fail if books are replaced by electronic media, and they are now beginning to be replaced by electronic media, so schools will fail." In other words, to pick answer C you would have to find in the stimulus the author making a clear statement (in the form of a premise) that his conclusion is possible and then have him determine that because it is possible it must in fact happen. Since he had no premise about failing schools being possible, that can't be the flaw we are looking for.

[smile22]

Thank you so much for the explanation. That makes a lot of sense.