Strengthen with Necessary Premise Questions - - Question 23
Animals with a certain behavioral disorder have unusually high levels of aluminum in their brain tissue. Since a sili...
Tyler808December 16, 2021
Struggling
I am really struggling with both strength and weaken questions! Do I just continue to practice and practice or am I doing something wrong? I always read up on why I get it wrong but I still continue to get these kinds of questions wrong.
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For strengthen and weaken questions remember that you are dealing in probability, not in absolutes. You're looking for something that is going to make it more/less likely that the argument works and the conclusion is right. Another thing that can be helpful is thinking of these questions in terms of alternative explanations. Weaken questions support an alternative explanation of the premises, and strengthen questions rule out an alternative explanation of the premises.
Consider the following argument: P1) I heard an animal in my backyard last night P2) I saw a tuft of red fur left on my porch C) The animal in my backyard last night was a fox
To weaken, we would point to an alternative explanation. An answer option could be that there are many squirrels with red fur in my neighborhood. This would weaken the argument by saying maybe it was a squirrel and not a fox in my backyard.
To strengthen, we want to rule out an alternative explanation. An answer option could be that foxes are by far the most common animal in my neighborhood with red fur. This would weigh as evidence against the alternative explanation that it was some other animal and not a fox, and therefore strengthen the argument. Hope this helps!
Jay-EtterJanuary 17, 2022
For strengthen and weaken questions remember that you are dealing in probability, not in absolutes. You're looking for something that is going to make it more/less likely that the argument works and the conclusion is right. Another thing that can be helpful is thinking of these questions in terms of alternative explanations. Weaken questions support an alternative explanation of the premises, and strengthen questions rule out an alternative explanation of the premises.
Consider the following argument: P1) I heard an animal in my backyard last night P2) I saw a tuft of red fur left on my porch C) The animal in my backyard last night was a fox
To weaken, we would point to an alternative explanation. An answer option could be that there are many squirrels with red fur in my neighborhood. This would weaken the argument by saying maybe it was a squirrel and not a fox in my backyard.
To strengthen, we want to rule out an alternative explanation. An answer option could be that foxes are by far the most common animal in my neighborhood with red fur. This would weigh as evidence against the alternative explanation that it was some other animal and not a fox, and therefore strengthen the argument. Hope this helps!
