#7 - Politician: Now that we are finally cleaning up the

[Jkjones3789]

Hello, I got this flaw question wrong. Could you please tell me what the flaw in the question is and why the answer is C, and also why it isn't A? Thank You. I was also wondering if this question could've been answered by paralleling the degree of certainty in the conclusion. All the other answer choices have must, and E is different in structure than the stimulus. Will and must don't have the same strength logically right?

[Lucas Moreau]

Hello, Jkjones,

I can see where you had a difficulty. E is a Mistaken Reversal, whereas the flaw in the stimulus is a Mistaken Negation. Saying:

No!Public Access Polluted
to
Public Access No!Polluted

A is not a flawed answer choice - A contains no flaw at all. A describes a relationship and its valid contrapositive, where the terms are both negated and reversed as they should be.

C is the correct answer choice because it has the same type of Mistaken Negation flaw as the stimulus does:

No!Prisoner Mixing Violence Increase
to
Prisoner Mixing No!Violence Increase

Hope that helps,
Lucas Moreau

[Jkjones3789]

For some strange reason when I am diagramming out the answer for D I am getting this

Solitary Confinement Violence increase

No solitary confinement no increase

I see that this is a mistaken negation but is it still paralled given that it has two negatives but the stimulus only had one? Sorry if thats a dumb question figured now is like my last chance to ask .. Thank you

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi Jkjones,

Definitely not a dumb question! I'm glad you asked. For parallel flaw questions, you are trying to find the answer choice where the type of flawed reasoning is closest to that in the stimulus. The specifics of which terms are negative vs. positive, etc., are less important; most important is matching the flaw, in this case, a mistaken reversal. I could diagram the stimulus to have two negatives, as well:
public restricted pollution
NO public restricted no pollution

So, your diagramming wasn't wrong, but there are a couple of correct ways to do it, as long as you are consistent throughout. Does that help?

[Jkjones3789]

Thank you so much. I'm all clear now

[broth99]

Hi,

Quick question. if MR and MN are contrapositives of each other, then shouldn't B,C, and E all be possible answers since they are all MR. Therefore, if we just rephrase B,C, and E to their contrapositives, it would be a MN, just like flaw in the stimulus.

Thanks,
Barath

[Robert Carroll]

Barath,

Mistaken Reversal and Mistaken Negation may involve the same mistake, but arguments using them differ in their logical structures. I've discussed this distinction elsewhere, which I'll link here: viewtopic.php?p=87775#p87775

Robert Carroll