Flat Earth Society President: It is an accepted

[BTGmoderatorDC]

Flat Earth Society President: It is an accepted philosophical aphorism that all truth passes through three stages: first, it is mocked; second, it is opposed and condemned; third, it is accepted as self-evident. The central claims of my flat earth society were first mocked and now face ferocious opposition, so it is plain enough that they will shortly be accepted as self-evident.

Which of the following best describes the error in the president's reasoning?


(A) The evidence presented for the president's conclusion is irrelevant to that conclusion.

(B) The president generalizes from an atypical case.

(C) The phenomenon introduced by the president in support of his principal contention is not a phenomenon covered by the aphorism supplied.

(D) The president mistakes a condition necessary to obtain a result for a condition sufficient to obtain that result.

(E) The president exploits two meaning of the word "truth."

OA D

Source: Veritas Prep

[deloitte247]

Here, we need to find a flaw in the President's reasoning.

Premise: It is an accepted philosophical aphorism that all truth passes through three stages which are;
(i) It is mocked
(ii) It is opposed and condemned
(iii) It is accepted as self-evident

Option A - Incorrect
Well, the evidence presented seems to go along with the given conclusion. So, it is not irrelevant to the conclusion.

Option B - Incorrect
The president generalized froma typical case because it is an accepted philosophical aphorism.

Option C - Incorrect
Well, this is also wrong because an aphorism is a concise statement of a principle, which means that it covers the President's statement.

Option D - Correct
The President's reasoning is flawed by using the necessary condition to obtain the result. This implies that because truth passes through three stages doesn't mean that it is sufficient to obtain the result.

Option E - Incorrect
This is wrong. The President only gave the three stages through which truth passes and nothing more.