October 1992 LSAT Section 3 Question 13

Arguing that there was no trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages because there are no written re...

Kweb1016 on December 26, 2020

Absence of evidence, or evidence of absence?

Hello, I chose E because I rationalized that it was not yet another absence-of-evidence claim, but a claim of evidence that such activity did not take place, ergo a counterexample of sorts. Is my rationale correct?

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shunhe on December 28, 2020

Hi @Kweb1016,

Thanks for the question! Yes, that’s correct. This isn’t a typical evidence of absence flaw. Because here, the fact that there isn’t evidence is itself indicative of the activity not taking place; in other words, the absence of evidence is the evidence of absence. So that’s correct, good job!

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.