#26 - Historian: Flavius, an ancient Roman governor who

[Nina]

Why is answer A incorrect? If "the large number" didn't make up a large percentage among the total satirical plays, the historian's argumentation should be weakened.

As for the correct answer B, i think even if there's bias contained on the part of the playwrights, if a lot of playwrights bias Flavius, it also indicated his unpopularity.

Thanks a lot!

[Adam Tyson]

Good question, Nina. I think the problem with answer A is that it talks about plays that don't mention Flavius, as opposed to those that mention him favorably (which might indicate a flaw in his argument). Does he really need to consider overall percentage, or is a "large number" sufficient to draw his conclusion? Hard to say.

Much easier to determine is the bias issue in the correct answer here, answer B. Remember, Flavius cut funding for the arts, so the playwrights have a specific reason to dislike him. Can we conclude that he is unpopular among playwrights? Quite possibly. But the argument made a conclusion about his popularity among his subjects, which presumably includes a lot more people than just playwrights or even artists generally. The argument is akin to saying that because a child is disliked by the kids in school that he bullies, he must be generally unpopular in the school. As we know, unfortunately, bullies can be very popular kids. Flavius, too, might be very popular, even while the playwrights don't think much of him.

A might indicate some flaw in the argument, or it might not, but it is not as good an answer as B, and since we are supposed to pick the best answer, that's our winner.

Hope that helped!

Adam

[Nina]

Hey Adam,

Thank you so much for your precise analysis!

[Peebljoh8981]

Why exactly is B correct? I cant identify the conclusion. I don't believe there is one. Should we just disregard the first half of the stim?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

No, Peebljoh8981, you can't just disregard the first half of the stimulus. In Flaw in the Reasoning questions, there must be an argument. That's where the reasoning part comes in. If you can't find the conclusion, try to find the assertion that is supported in the argument, but that doesn't itself support anything else. That's your conclusion.

Here, the conclusion is found in the last sentence, preceding the phrase "as we can conclude." What can we conclude? Flavius was unpopular among his subjects. Why? The author says we can tell that he was unpopular based on the number of satirical plays about him. But that seems suspicious---he was known for not supporting the arts, so the artists (and playwrights) would be more likely to dislike him than the average citizen. That's what answer choice (B) describes. The argument relies on an indicator of dislike (satirical plays) that's likely to be biased (by the lack of support for the arts).

Hope that helps!