An independent audit found no indication of tax avoidance on the part of the firm in the firm's accounts; therefore, ...

Mehran February 27, 2018

@erojas the flaw here is that assuming the nonexistence of evidence for a phenomena is proof that the phenomena doesn't exist.

Here is an example I am sure you can relate to:

"There is no evidence of extraterrestrial life, therefore extraterrestrial life doesn't exist."

Let's take a look at (E) first, "An examination of the index of the book found no listing for the most prominent critic of the theory the book advocates; therefore, the book fails to refer to that critic."

Notice this is the same flaw we encountered in the stimulus. Because there is no listing for the most prominent critic in the index, the book fails to refer to that critic.

Compare that with (C), "A compilation of the best student essays of the year includes no essays on current events; therefore, students have become apathetic toward current events."

The problem in (C) is there is an unwarranted assumption, i.e. if the compilation of the best essays included no essays on current events, this means students have become apathetic towards current events.

While this is clearly a flawed argument as well, this is not the same flaw that we encountered in the stimulus.

Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Julie-V August 8, 2019

could you expand on the explanation as to why (C) is incorrect, especially the "unwarranted assumption" that you mentioned?

Ravi August 8, 2019

@Julie-V,

Let's look at (C).

(C) says, "A compilation of the best student essays of the year
includes no essays on current events; therefore, students have become
apathetic toward current events."

The problem with (C) is that it's equivocating between the absence of
essays on current events and students' apathy. This is different from
the flaw in the stimulus. The flaw in the stimulus is one of absence
of evidence. The argument in the stimulus is saying that there is no
evidence of something, so therefore that thing must not exist.

In order for (C) to have be correct, it'd have to say something like,
"A compilation of the best student essays of the year includes no
essays on current events; therefore, no such essay exists."

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!

AndrewArabie October 20, 2022

Why can't you say that concluding the students are apathetic to current events is concluding something from a lack of evidence in the compilation of essays?
This answer choice seems to conclude from a lack of evidence that students care about current events that the students don't care about current events.

Emil-Kunkin October 26, 2022

Hi,

C changes the subject. The original argument is about their being a problem. Because there is no evidence for a problem, there is no problem. This is an argument about one subject. C changes the subject, going from essays to apathy. Essays about a topic and caring about a topic are not the same thing. Additionally, there is a sample bias in C we did not have in the original one. C is only looking at the best essays. Perhaps mediocre ones did write about current events