Methods of Reasoning Questions - - Question 34

Sally: I cannot study at a university where there is an alcohol problem, so unless something is done about the alcoho...

Dsh August 15, 2024

Why should I not choose B

Regarding B, I was also confused as to why it is wrong. Yolanda starts off her passage by stating that she does not believe fraternities to be the cause of alcohol abuse at this university (Sally's University). Then comes the sentence where she generalizes that alcohol problems exist at all universities. So, would this not be a generalization of all universities based on a generalization from the one university referenced in her first sentence? The only explanation I can think of is maybe the generalization about fraternities not being the cause of alcohol abuse at the one university does not directly lead to the generalization that alcohol abuse is present at all universities because the first line generalizes more based on the fact that fraternities are not the issue rather than the fact that alcohol abuse is an issue on other campuses too.

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Emil-Kunkin August 26, 2024

I think you're on the right track about why it's not B.

While she does make a generalization about all universities, we have no way to know if it's overly broad, and more importantly she does not make a broad generalization about every university from one university.

This would look like "there is a problem at school X, therefore there is a problem at every school."

This is know what she does. Her generalization is not based on just one university. We don't know what it's based on but the passage does not support the claim that she is making this generalization based only on one instance.