#7 - If rational-choice theory is correct, then people act

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[dshen123]

Can someone please help me why is this not A?

[Dana D]

Hey Dshen,

When answer choices are in the abstract, I reccommend making yourself identify what exactly they would be referencing. This often illuminates the flaws in a potential answer choice.

Here, answer choice (A) "assumes as a premise the contention the argument purports to establish." So, what is the contention the argument purports to establish? It seems that it would be that "rational-choice theory cannot be correct."

But is that also the premise of the argument? No - here the premise is that "people act in ways that don't personally benefit them" - that's why rational choice theory can't be correct.

So this answer choice doesn't describe what's actually happening in the stimulus.

Hope that helps!

[saiffshaikhh@gmail.com]

is this a weaken question?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi saiffshaikhh,

This question would be classified as a Flaw in the Reasoning question rather than a Weaken question.

Flaw answers describe a flaw that is already in the argument, while Weaken answers bring in new information that attack the argument, so the way that the information flows between the argument and answer choices is different.

One clue is that the wording "most vulnerable to criticism" is generally an indicator of a Flaw question.

That being said, flaw answers that begin with the words "fails to consider" (such as Answer E here) are describing something that the argument did not consider, but should have, and this consideration could have been used in a Weaken question, so it's understandable how this might seem similar to a Weaken question.