#19 - Most movie critics believe that sentimentality

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[dandelionsroar]

What is the type of reasoning used here in the stimulus? I know it is not conditional.

Thanks:)

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Dandelion,

This can probably be best seen as a variation of the common flaw where "some evidence against a position is used to conclude the position is false." The critic doesn't like why/how they believe a certain thing, and uses that to dismiss their entire position.

Thanks!

[lsatquestions]

Can you please explain this answer in more detail?

[Adam Tyson]

The argument provides some reason to think that perhaps the critics are wrong, and their biases based on their personal experiences may have led them to a false conclusion. Maybe sentimentality doesn't detract from aesthetic value, they just think it does because they are so pleased at the few occasions when it is absent?

But just because their experiences MAY have led they to a false conclusion doesn't mean that it IS a false conclusion. The author has SOME evidence that they could be wrong, but that evidence isn't conclusive, and they have given it too much weight in reaching too strong a conclusion. That's what a "some evidence" flaw is all about - taking some evidence that might help or hurt a position and then concluding that it is enough to prove or disprove that position.