Rotelle: You are too old to address effectively the difficult issues facing the country, such as nuclear power, pove...
kristinsmith04December 12, 2019
Doesn't agreeing with D, also mean you agree with A?
Doesn't agreeing with D, also mean you agree with A? If D is correct (that someone who can solve these problems must be younger than Sims) then we concede A, that Rotelle believes many old people (ie. someone else who isn't Sims) cannot effectively address those issues. Where am i going wrong? Why does agreeing with D not ALSO cause Rotelle to concede A?
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(A) is incorrect and different than (D) for two reasons.
Firstly, Rotelle is only addressing Sims, not "many old people." He limits his comments solely to Sims being "too old." He is not committed to making a larger sweeping statement about all old people.
Secondly, (A) uses "old" without any context or age range, whereas (D) limits its reference to age in comparison to Sims. We do not know the cutoff for "old," so we cannot commit Rotelle to (A).
Does that make sense? Please let me know if you have additional questions!
kristinsmith04December 15, 2019
Thank you for your patience! Please hear me out:
The good news: I now understand that Rotelle MAY think that many old people are incapable but we cannot be SURE of that based on what the stimulus says. All we can be sure of is that Rotelle is committed to the fact that SIMS is too old. For that reason, I now agree, and would pick D.
The bad news: The issue I keep coming back to is that I still don't see how D does not commit us to A - if the person MUST be younger than sims, then we also know that Rotelle thinks people older than sims are unacceptable, therefore demonstrating that she believes MANY old people (sims and anyone else older than him) is inadequate. Thus, D leads to A being true (at least in my mind).
Does it matter that the correct answer choice, the one we can definitely conclude, makes another one we could not initially conclude true? I suppose not?
You guys are the best. Thank you
SkylarDecember 15, 2019
@kristinsmith04, I like the good news :)
In response to the bad news, I would argue that D does not commit us to A. I understand where you're coming from, but I would point you to the word "old." The way that it is used in (A) is too ambiguous to say that it is guaranteed by D, as Sims's age is never stated. In other words, "old" as used in (A) does not necessarily mean "older than Sims."
Let's use a concrete example to try to understand this. Imagine that Sims is 75 years old. Therefore, (D) essentially says that "if anyone can effectively address the difficult issues facing the country, that person must be younger than 75 years old." However, (A) still says "many old people cannot effectively address the difficult issues facing the country." What if "old" was defined as 50 years and up? Since it isn't defined explicitly in the passage or in the answer choice, the definition is up for interpretation like this. Using this logic, a 60 year old who could potentially address the issues effectively according to (D) would not be able to address them effectively according to (A). This shows that (D) and (A) are not the same.
Does that help at all?
kristinsmith04December 16, 2019
Yes! Thanks so much. :)
RaviJanuary 16, 2020
@kristinsmith04, let us know if you have any other questions!
