Bunuel wrote:
Donna: For the most part, medical researchers agree that someone who regularly consumes large amounts of alcohol will probably have serious health problems.
Steve: Heavy drinking does not adversely impact one’s health. My great uncle drank heavily for years and seemed in perfect health. In fact, he lived to be 87 years old.
Which one of the following is a major flaw in Steve’s argument?
(A) Steve’s argument uses only one example to attempt to refute a probable, not a foregone, result.
(B) Steve cites an example that medical researchers did not study.
(C) Steve’s argument implies that there can be no correlation between heavy drinking and poor health.
(D) Steve’s argument fails to acknowledge the possibility that his great uncle may not have been in good health after all.
(E) Steve doesn’t indicate how long ago his great uncle lived so that different medical treatments can be taken into account.
Donna - Someone who regularly consumes large amounts of alcohol will
probably have serious health problems.
Steve - My great uncle drank heavily for years and seemed in perfect health. In fact, he lived to be 87 years old.
The big problem with Steve's argument - He gives one example to refute the statement. Even that example is not perfect because he says that he 'seemed' to be in perfect health, not that he was in perfect health. But even if the example were perfect, Steve's logic would still be deeply flawed. He is giving a single example to refute a "probable" result.
Hence, answer has to be (A).
(D) would be a flaw if one example were enough. Then he wouldn't have given the right example.
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Karishma
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