Joshua Smith

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Joshua Smith

by vikram4689 » Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:39 pm
Joshua Smith's new novel was criticized by the book editor for The Daily Standard as implausible. That criticism, like so many other criticisms from the same source in the past, is completely unwarranted, as anyone who has actually read the novel would agree. Each one of the incidents in which Smith's hero gets involved is the kind of incident that could very well have happened to someone or other.
Which one of the following is the most serious error of reasoning in the argument?
(A) It relies on the assumption that a criticism can legitimately by dismissed as unwarranted if it is offended by someone who had previously displayed questionable judgment.
(B) It ignores the fact that people can agree about something even though what they agree about is not the case.
(C) It calls into question the intellectual integrity of the critic in order to avoid having to address the grounds on which the criticism is based.
(D) It takes for granted that a whole story will have a given characteristics if each of its parts has that characteristics.
(E) It attempts to justify its conclusion by citing reasons that most people would find plausible only if they were already convinced that the conclusion was true.
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by vikram4689 » Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:47 pm
OA: D BUT i think there is some scope of error.

Stimulus says that "Each one of the incidents in which Smith's hero gets involved is the kind of incident that could very well have happened to someone or other. " WHILE option D says that
"It takes for granted that a whole story will have a given characteristics if each of its parts has that characteristics."

"EACH" in D is a super set of "EACH" in Stimulus. Lets says novel has 10 parts. Incidents in which Smith's gets involved is 6. Now D talks about "each of its parts" which accounts for all 10 parts. Also we do not know if rest of 4 parts have same characteristics as that of other 6. So D does not seem AIR-TIGHT
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by killer1387 » Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:41 am
Joshua Smith's new novel was criticized by the book editor for The Daily Standard as implausible. That criticism, like so many other criticisms from the same source in the past, is completely unwarranted, as anyone who has actually read the novel would agree. Each one of the incidents in which Smith's hero gets involved is the kind of incident that could very well have happened to someone or other.

Which one of the following is the most serious error of reasoning in the argument?

(A) It relies on the assumption that a criticism can legitimately by dismissed as unwarranted if it is offended by someone who had previously displayed questionable judgment.
--> That criticism, like so many other criticisms from the same source in the past, is completely unwarranted, as anyone who has actually read the novel would agree. A is out.

(B) It ignores the fact that people can agree about something even though what they agree about is not the case.
--> Here obviously the case is on which people agree.

(C) It calls into question the intellectual integrity of the critic in order to avoid having to address the grounds on which the criticism is based.
--> nothing like this happens anywhere in the passage

(D) It takes for granted that a whole story will have a given characteristics if each of its parts has that characteristics.
--> here's what going on in the argument. People actually think as its parts are good hence the book is plausible, thereby opposing the criticism.

(E) It attempts to justify its conclusion by citing reasons that most people would find plausible only if they were already convinced that the conclusion was true.
--> not a case present in the argument. People are already convinced after reading the book no need for them to believe the conclusion for getting convinced.

By POE i landed on D.

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by vikram4689 » Thu Mar 01, 2012 6:50 am
Yeah agreed that D is correct but you did not notice the point that i have made above.
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by killer1387 » Thu Mar 01, 2012 9:52 pm
vikram4689 wrote:OA: D BUT i think there is some scope of error.

Stimulus says that "Each one of the incidents in which Smith's hero gets involved is the kind of incident that could very well have happened to someone or other. " WHILE option D says that
"It takes for granted that a whole story will have a given characteristics if each of its parts has that characteristics."

"EACH" in D is a super set of "EACH" in Stimulus. Lets says novel has 10 parts. Incidents in which Smith's gets involved is 6. Now D talks about "each of its parts" which accounts for all 10 parts. Also we do not know if rest of 4 parts have same characteristics as that of other 6. So D does not seem AIR-TIGHT

Stimulus says that "Each one of the incidents in which Smith's hero gets involved is the kind of incident that could very well have happened to someone or other. " WHILE option D says that
"It takes for granted that a whole story will have a given characteristics if each of its parts has that characteristics."

"each of its parts" refers to the "Each one of the incidents"
--> this suggests as the readers believe that these incidents are credible hence the book overall is credible this is what the option states and hence is correct.

Even if the novel has 1000 parts that is not within the scope of the argument as argument refers only to the incidents, it assumes these are the only parts and based on the observation related to this specific part the readers tend to reach a certain consensus.
Hence we should only concentrate at this part as 1000 parts, not other separate out of scope 1000 parts.
Hope that helps..!!

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by vikram4689 » Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:07 am
Yes this is exactly what i meant. D is best of 5 but i assumes that these parts are only parts
Even if the novel has 1000 parts that is not within the scope of the argument as argument refers only to the incidents, it assumes these are the only parts
Lets grill out this question:) till we get to a consensus. These kinds of discussion will lead us to nothing BUT to higher score.

######## More thought ########
I was think about it and then i realized that given statement in D might MORE STRONGLY weaken the argument. I was saying that there might be some parts that readers ASSUMED(hence they are different) will have SIMILAR characteristics. Now D says that even if ALL parts are similar then WHOLE STORY might not have that characteristics.
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