Political advertisement: Sherwood campaigns as an opponent of higher taxes. But is anybody fooled? For the last 10 ye...

farnoushsalimian on November 8, 2019

Why E and not C?

Hi I was wondering why it's not C? Could you break down C and E please. Thank you

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SamA on November 8, 2019

Hello @farnoushsalimian,

When I get "vulnerable to criticism" questions, I like to criticize the argument myself before I look at the answer choices.

Why does the political ad urge people to reject Sherwood? Because Sherwood was on a city council that consistently increased taxes. I see a hole in this argument. What if Sherwood was a minority voice opposing higher taxes, but the rest of the council disagreed? It is not necessarily Sherwood's fault that the council increased taxes.

This is best expressed by answer choice E.

C is often a correct answer on this type of question, but not on this particular question. I'll make up an example in which C would be correct.

Premise: Every councilman who is a republican (R) will not vote to increase taxes (not VIT).
Conclusion: Sherwood is a democrat, therefore he will vote to increase taxes.

P: R - - - - - - - -> not VIT
C: not R - - - - - - -> VIT

This is not a valid conclusion, because it confuses sufficient and necessary conditions. It treats R, which is a sufficient condition, as if it were a necessary condition. Do you see how the political advertisement does not make that same mistake?