#25 - Statistician: Changes in the Sun’s luminosity

[Luke Haqq]

Hi dshen123!

If we filled in answer choice (B) with material from the stimulus that you suggested, we'd have something like, the meteorologist "fails to distinguish phenomena (luminosity and temperature) that exist independently of a particular system (climate) from phenomena (luminosity and temperature) that exist only as part of the system (climate)." It's not clear that the mentioned phenomena exist independently from the system--the sun's luminosity might, but at least as I understand it, the temperature is part of the climate. More to the point, it doesn't seem that the meteorologist is making a flaw by assuming that parts exist independently when they are really only parts of the system. Rather, the meteorologist is making an appeal to authority ("any professional meteorologist will tell you..."), when it is precisely that authority that the statistician challenges.

[waffle0808]

I agree with the previous post. While the statistician is talking about temperatures on earth, the meteorologist is talking about climate. Although I do agree that they unjustly appeal to authority, I thought that the difference between temp and climate were the most pressing issue here, and automatically makes the meteorologist's argument flawed. That's why I think B is also correct?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi waffle,

While it's true that the statistician is talking about temperatures on Earth and the meteorologist is talking about climate, this isn't actually the flaw. "Climate" is defined as "the general weather over a long period" and includes temperature, so it is not a flaw to bring in the topic of climate when discussing changing temperatures.

In other words, if the meteorologist had actually provided data showing how climate conditions actually affect land temperatures on Earth rather than simply relying on the fact that any professional meteorologist would claim this to be true, then the meteorologist's argument wouldn't be flawed. Because the meteorologist doesn't provide any actual data and just relies on the authority of professional meteorologists without evidence, the flaw is here an appeal to authority as described in Answer E.