#11 - Professor Smith published a paper arguing that a

[GLMDYP]

Hi Powerscore!
I just don't understand why (C) is correct. Can you explain this to me?
Thanks!

[David Boyle]

Hi Powerscore!
I just don't understand why (C) is correct. Can you explain this to me?
Thanks!

Hello,

There is a sort of "source argument" here, or something close to it, being a little paranoid and assuming the other scientists are out to get Smith. But maybe they're sincere and really believe he is wrong.

David

[LSAT2020]

I think I had a strong understanding of the passage, but the way the correct answer choice was worded really seemed to confuse me. For the stimulus:

Premise: Professor S came up with a theory that goes against the popular belief in the scientific community

Premise: Other scientists in the scientific community wrote a paper in which they were backing up the popular belief that
Professor S's new theory seemed to go against

Conclusion: The other scientists wrote this paper because they're threatened by Professor S's work

Flaw: What if the other scientists had other reasons for writing the paper?

When I got to the answer choices, I ended up choosing answer choice E. My reasoning was, what if effect that Professor S's paper has on the public view of drinking water is a bad thing? What if it causes people to become paranoid for no reason?

Would greatly appreciate some clarification regarding why C is the better answer and why E should have been eliminated.

Also any tips with getting better at understanding the answer choices? I think if the answer choice had been "the author fails to take into account that there are other reasons for why the other scientists decided to write the paper" this would have been a super easy question. However, this flaw opens up the door for an infinite number of "other possible reasons" for why the other scientists wrote the paper. I seem to have trouble with being open-minded about how these "other possible reasons" can be shown in the answer choices.

Thanks in advance!

[Adam Tyson]

The problem with answer E, LSAT2020, is that it doesn't matter how the public reacted to Smith's paper. We still need to find an alternate cause for the other scientists writing their opposition papers, and answer E doesn't give us that unless we start to make our own assumptions about the scientists seeing a need to build public confidence back up. Don't make those assumptions!

As to your prephrase, a broad one is generally best, because it casts a wide enough net to catch any specific prephrase that fits under it. "There was some other reason besides feeling threatened" is a great prephrase here, but we have to be ready to accept ANY answer that offers even one such reason. Answer C does just that - it suggests the reason could have been a genuine desire to spread the truth. But we could also have selected an answer that said they wrote those papers because they were paid by the government to help improve their image, or one that said they did it because they were worried about a loss of public confidence, or that they didn't feel at all threatened by just generally disliked Smith and wanted to ridicule him for fun. Any alternate motivation on their part would fit under the broad prephrase of "some other reason," and so as with most Weaken or Flaw question based on causal arguments we should be happy to select an answer that offers even a single alternate cause.