#5 - Observatory director: Some say that funding the

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[karen4300]

I chose D). I didn't really understand the question stem. Could someone help me understand why E is right?

[nmgee]

Hi. I chose E because I thought it was just slightly better than C. I thought both answers seemed strong.

Are we supposed to not consider this ad hominem solely because the view is being criticized not explicitly the person/people holding the view? How should we distinguish between an argument attacking the view vs. the viewholder? I think this would better help me rule out C, because I thought the "some say X and this dangerous point of view...would have stifled research" implied the people holding the view were also being argued against in addition to he view itself. Thanks in advance for your help!

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, NMGee,

Looks like you've mostly got it. The argument does not attack directly the people who are against the megatelescope. It attacks their view. The argument states the view is "dangerous." We cannot assume that this assertion is an ad hominem/source argument directed against the opponents directly.

Thus, the following statement is incorrect:

I thought the "some say X and this dangerous point of view...would have stifled research" implied the people holding the view were also being argued against in addition to he view itself.

The above statement is directed against the view, not its proponents.

Does this make sense? Good job.

[LSAT2020]

Could we say that this argument is weak due to the analogy that the observatory director is attempting to use as support for the argument? The director is comparing the applications of Newton, Einstein, and Maxwell's to that of the astronomers, right? The observatory director seems to be assuming that the work that the astronomers will do with the telescope is going to be as groundbreaking to science as that of Newton, Einstein, and Maxwell's. I feel like the analogy could've worked if the director had given us proof that the work by the astronomers is as ground-breaking as that of Newton, Einstein, and Maxwell.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi LSAT2020,

Yes, that's exactly right, and you're also right about how the argument could've been strengthened. Also notice that, since you've identified the flaw as being analogy-based, it's not at all surprising that the correct answer (E) refers to a problematic "comparison."

Nice work!

Jeremy