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flaw in reasoning

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flaw in reasoning

by thephoenix » Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:39 pm
Knowledge of an ancient language is essential for reading original ancient documents. Most ancient historical documents, however, have been translated into modern languages, so scholars of ancient history can read them for their research without learning ancient languages. Therefore, aspirants to careers as ancient history scholars no longer need to take the time to learn ancient languages.
The argument is vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds?
(A) It concludes that something is never necessary on the grounds that it is not always necessary.
(B) A statement of fact is treated as if it were merely a statement of opinion.
(C) The conclusion is no more than a restatement of the evidence provides as support of that conclusion.
(D) The judgment of experts is applied to a matter in which their expertise is irrelevant.
(E) Some of the evidence presented in support of the conclusion is inconsistent with other evidences provided.

i always get stummped in this particular type of cr can someone provide a clearcut approach for Flaw in reasoning type cr....even after finding the flaw i many a times get confused in options....here i cud remove B,D and E using my POE standards...
kindly help
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by kstv » Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:33 pm
Really good one but is it a GMAT CR?
IMO A
If I break the argument.
The conclusion of the argument is - aspirants to careers as ancient history scholars no longer need to take the time to learn ancient languages. It has the conclusion indicator Therefore. Simple.
Most ancient historical documents, however, have been translated into modern languages,
so scholars of ancient history can read them them without learning the language. But most is not all what happens if there is a new discovery, ancient manuscripts in a forgotten cave. It is not that a new software to translate the ancient language has been found. So you cannot say that there will never be a need to know the ancient language just cos it is not always necessary.
The problem is that in two minutes u can disect only one option. Hope to see some divergent views.
Last edited by kstv on Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by thephoenix » Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:42 pm
yes true in 2 minutes time i sud reach upto C starting from back and went wrong
its a LSAT CR
OA is A which i happened to figure out in my second attempt , which took 4 min
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by pops » Sat Apr 10, 2010 4:19 am
I am little confused if A is the answer. A states 'never' 'always' this sounds like something in time ?
please explain how A is correct please !
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by Testluv » Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:39 am
received a pm.

Yes, this is definitely an LSAT question. Flaw questions are far more common on the LSAT than on the GMAT. This question is testing your ability to paraphrase an argument, identify an assumption, and, finally, to describe the flaw.

The argument can be paraphrased as follows:

"Because they don't need to know ancient languages to read ancient documents, historical scholars (or, those who aspire to become historical scholars) don't need to know ancient languages at all".

So, the author is assuming that there are no other reasons for why historical scholar-aspirants would need to learn ancient languages. (Because if there was some other reason for why they would have to--whatever that reason may be--then the argument falls apart).

Choice A describes the flaw in reasoning. As is usual in flaw questions (both LSAT and GMAT), the answer choices are written at a high level of generality (ie, they don't refer to "languages" etc.)

The "something" in choice A is knowledge of ancient languages. He is concluding that knowledge of ancient languages is never necessary (ie, no other reason why they might need to know ancient languages) because it is not always necessary (ie, you don't need to have knowledge of ancient languages to read ancient documents).

Choice C describes circular reasoning, which is not the flaw here. If you were prepping for the LSAT, I would now tell you that circular reasoning often shows up as a wrong answer in flaw questions but rarely as a correct answer. But, really, you don't need that for the GMAT since flaw is rare in the first place, and because GMAT flaw will be far less wordy.
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by pkw209 » Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:06 pm
Hi Testluv!

Could you please explain what circular reasoning is and/or provide an example?

Thanks!
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by pkw209 » Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:09 pm
On second glance, I guess you could use the answer choice here as an example of circular reasoning.

Could you maybe explain it in more basic terms?
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by Testluv » Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:22 pm
pkw209 wrote:On second glance, I guess you could use the answer choice here as an example of circular reasoning.

Could you maybe explain it in more basic terms?
Hey Peter,

Essentially, circular reasoning involves the conclusion being a mere restatement of evidence.

For example:

"The article was good because it was not bad".

or

"Dwayne can only write bad articles because he is incapable of writing good articles".
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by diebeatsthegmat » Sat Jun 12, 2010 12:56 am
thephoenix wrote:yes true in 2 minutes time i sud reach upto C starting from back and went wrong
its a LSAT CR
OA is A which i happened to figure out in my second attempt , which took 4 min
i never like learning or practising GMAT with LSAT question because its option choices for the argument are never clear thus whenever i did a lsat question i always end a day with such the feeling as MAD,STAGNANT,CRAZY AND ODD" and i am so scared of stagnant feelings because it makes me become a stupid girl or i feel that way after doing a lsat question. why do you guys love to do those questions? there are so many sources your can learn such as kaplan, gmat guide, manhattan....hmhmhmhmhmhmh
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