Methods of Reasoning Questions - - Question 26

Historian: There is no direct evidence that timber was traded between the ancient nations of Poran and Nayal, but the...

tomgbean December 20, 2019

C and A

I have a question about the explanation of why C is wrong and why A is correct...rather, why is A the only correct answer when C could work. I thought the certainty was the practice of keeping laws on the books although people no longer engaged in those activities while the possibilities are decided between the law during the nayalese dynasty was just such a practice/the possibility that they may have actually traded during that time.

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Skylar December 20, 2019

@tomgbean,

(C) does not work because the critic's response does not explicitly distinguish between the certain and the possible. Instead, this distinction can only be assumed through interpretation. (C) does not make any direct claim about certainty, so for (C) to be true we would have to use independent knowledge about how possibility differs from certainty.

(A) is correct because it is clearly present in the critic's response through the comparison of Nayal's ancient tariff law to unpracticed laws on "today's statute books."

Does that make sense? Please reach out with any other questions!

MrLaw April 1, 2020

I don't understand. A few questions ago regarding myths in modern society, why wasn't her comparing the human as a machine to a modern day myth, but comparing today's law books to those of antiquity is an analogy?

MrLaw April 1, 2020

Further, when I read 'C,' I take it to mean that the critic is denying what the historian has established as a certainty and instead establishes it as a possibility.