#25 - The great medieval universities had no administrators,

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thanks!

[Oneshot06]

Hi, I'm working on the causal arguments from the LR training book and had trouble understanding why A is wrong in this question and B is right, more specifically why B.) is right? I eliminated B, because it seemed like a reversal of the logic applied in stimulus.

Abstractly I read the stimulus as:
A-->NO B =good thing
ours: A-->B =bad thing
Conclusion: A-->NO B =good thing

THe way I interpreted B.) was:
A-->B =good thing
you: No A -->No B =bad thing
Conclusion: A-->B =good thing

Thanks in advance for your response!

[Daniel Stern]

Hi OneShot:

I think you got hung up on the negation with your diagramming.

Stim: The old universities had no administrators, lasted long time
Abstraction: Certain thing had certain qualities, and also another desirable quality
Answer B: The novelist uses computer, gets stories published.

Stim: Therefore, our university should get rid of administrators to last a long time.
Abstraction: We should take on qualities of certain thing to cause other desirable quality
Answer B: You should use computer, you'll get stories published.

Flawed reasoning: assumes causal relationship where there is merely two things occurring simultaneously. Or, to put it another way, mistakes correlation for causation.

I hope this is helpful, good luck!
Dan