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Tough language CR

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by sui generis » Mon Apr 02, 2012 10:11 am
Essayist: People once believed that Earth was at the center of the universe, and that, therefore, Earth and its inhabitants were important. We now know that Earth revolves around a star at the outskirts of a spiral arm of one of countless galaxies. Therefore, people's old belief that Earth and its inhabitants were important was false.

A flaw in the essayist's argument is that the argument
(A) presumes, without providing justification, that only true statements can have good reasons to be believed
(B) neglects to consider that a statement that was believed for questionable reasons may nevertheless have been true
(C) fails to consider that there can be no reason for disbelieving a true statement
(D) overlooks the fact that people's perception of their importance changed from century to century
(E) neglects the fact that people's perception of their importance varies from culture to culture

OA: B

I couldn't understand option A,B and C. Could anyone please explain ?

Thanks.
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by Bill@VeritasPrep » Mon Apr 02, 2012 12:37 pm
A--only something that is true can have good reasons that people should believe it.

B--If a statement is believed for questionable reasons, then it cannot be true.

C--If something is true, there are no good reasons not to believe it.

B works because it is entirely possible that a conclusion may be true, even if the evidence used to draw that conclusion is faulty. For example:

The bottoms of my shoes are sticky, so I don't have to worry about flying off into space.

It's still true that I don't have to worry about flying off into space, even though my reason for believing so is incorrect.
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by sui generis » Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:43 pm
Gotcha! Thanks Bill.
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