Of all the houses in the citys historic district, the house that once

Question

Of all the houses in the city’s historic district, the house that once belonged to the Tyler family is the most famous by far. Since the historic district is the most famous district in the city, the Tyler house must be the city’s most famous house.

The flawed reasoning in the argument above most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in which one of the following?

(A) Of all the peaks in the coastal mountain range, Mount Williams is the tallest. Since the tallest peaks in the entire region are in the coastal mountain range, Mount Williams must be the region’s tallest peak.

(B) Tobacco smoking is the behavior most likely to cause lung cancer in people. Since more tobacco is smoked in Greene County than anywhere else in the world, there must be more lung cancer in Greene County than anywhere else in the world.

(C) Susan Coleman is the oldest of the three children in her family. Since the three Coleman children are each older than any of the other children who live in their building, Susan Coleman must be the oldest child now living in the building.

(D) Of all the fish stores in the harbors area, Miller’s Fish Market has the most exotic selection of fish. Since there are many more fish stores in the harbor area than anywhere else in the city, Miller’s Fish Market must have the most exotic selection of fish in the city.

(E) Of all the flowers grown in the university’s botanical garden, the Oakland roses are the most beautiful. Since the university’s botanical garden is the most beautiful garden in the region, the Oakland roses grown in the garden must be the most beautiful flowers grown in the entire region.

exc4libur · Answer

argument
= tyler most famous in HISTORIC district
= HISTORIC district most famous in CITY
= tyler most famous in CITY

ans (E) roses in UNI are most beauty, UNI is most beauty in REGION, roses are most beauty REGION

razorhell · Answer

ANS E ... 
FLAWED REASONING is .... if T house is most famous in historic city and Historic is most famous among other ( Say city A , B , C) as a whole. BUT, some house in city A may be more famous than T's house .... AS a whole the city A <famous historic city ....

Only E clearly states the same flawed line of reasoning

(A) Of all the peaks in the coastal mountain range, Mount Williams is the tallest. Since the tallest peaks in the entire region are in the coastal mountain range, Mount Williams must be the region’s tallest peak.

(B) Tobacco smoking is the behavior most likely to cause lung cancer in people. Since more tobacco is smoked in Greene County than anywhere else in the world, there must be more lung cancer in Greene County than anywhere else in the world.

(C) Susan Coleman is the oldest of the three children in her family. Since the three Coleman children are each older than any of the other children who live in their building, Susan Coleman must be the oldest child now living in the building.

(D) Of all the fish stores in the harbors area, Miller’s Fish Market has the most exotic selection of fish. Since there are many more fish stores in the harbor area than anywhere else in the city, Miller’s Fish Market must have the most exotic selection of fish in the city .

(E) Of all the flowers grown in the university’s botanical garden, the Oakland roses are the most beautiful. Since the university’s botanical garden is the most beautiful garden in the region, the Oakland roses grown in the garden must be the most beautiful flowers grown in the entire region.

JoyeetaChak · Answer

Of all the houses in the city’s historic district, the house that once belonged to the Tyler family is the most famous by far. Since the historic district is the most famous district in the city, the Tyler house must be the city’s most famous house.

Of all the flowers grown in the university’s botanical garden, the Oakland roses are the most beautiful. Since the university’s botanical garden is the most beautiful garden in the region, the Oakland roses grown in the garden must be the most beautiful flowers grown in the entire region.

Of all the houses = Of all the flowers grown
city’s historic district = university’s botanical garden
house that once belonged to the Tyler family = the Oakland roses
most famous = most beautiful
historic district is the most famous district = university’s botanical garden is the most beautiful garden

Tyler house must be the city’s most famous house in the city= Oakland roses grown in the garden must be the most beautiful flowers grown in the entire region

Correct answer is E

debjit1990 · Answer

Ans: E

Of all the flowers grown in the university’s botanical garden, the Oakland roses are the most beautiful. Since the university’s botanical garden is the most beautiful garden in the region, the Oakland roses grown in the garden must be the most beautiful flowers grown in the entire region.

This is the flawed argument like the argument in the question.

unraveled · Answer

Of all the houses in the city’s historic district, the house that once belonged to the Tyler family is the most famous by far. Since the historic district is the most famous district in the city, the Tyler house must be the city’s most famous house.

The flawed reasoning in the argument above most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in which one of the following?

(A) Of all the peaks in the coastal mountain range, Mount Williams is the tallest.  Since the tallest peaks in the entire region are in the coastal mountain range , Mount Williams must be the region’s tallest peak. - WRONG. Reasoning is correct in itself.

(B)  Tobacco smoking is the behavior most likely to cause lung cancer in people.  Since more tobacco is smoked in Greene County than anywhere else in the world, there must be more lung cancer in Greene County than anywhere else in the world. - WRONG. Red text is not parallel.

(C) Susan Coleman is the oldest of the three children in her family.  Since the three Coleman children are each older than any of the other children  who live in their building, Susan Coleman must be the oldest child now living in the building. - WRONG. No flaw in the reasoning.

(D) Of all the fish stores in the harbors area, Miller’s Fish Market has the most exotic selection of fish.  Since there are many more fish stores in the harbor area than  anywhere else in the city, Miller’s Fish Market must have the most exotic selection of fish in the city. - WRONG. 2nd best choice. But loses out because of the comparison aspect it brings

(E) Of all the flowers grown in the university’s botanical garden, the Oakland roses are the most beautiful.  Since the university’s botanical garden is the most beautiful garden in the region , the Oakland roses grown in the garden must be the most beautiful flowers grown in the entire region. - CORRECT. Reasoning is flawed as it parallels the logic similar as in the passage.

Answer E.

Shlok02 · Answer

Can anyone please explain why the answer cannot be A? I had narrowed it down to A and E but chose A instead.

guddo · Answer

Of all the houses in the city’s historic district, the house that once belonged to the Tyler family is the most famous by far. Since the historic district is the most famous district in the city, the Tyler house must be the city’s most famous house.
 
 The flawed reasoning in the argument above most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in which one of the following?

The argument says the Tyler house is the most famous house in the historic district, and the historic district is the most famous district. Then it concludes that the Tyler house is the most famous house in the whole city.  The flaw  is assuming that the best-known item inside the best-known group must be the best-known item  overall .

(A) Of all the peaks in the coastal mountain range, Mount Williams is the tallest. Since the tallest peaks in the entire region are in the coastal mountain range, Mount Williams must be the region’s tallest peak.

This is not parallel. This reasoning is much stronger, because it says the tallest peaks in the entire region are in the coastal range. If Mount Williams is the tallest peak in that range, then it could reasonably be the tallest in the region.

(B) Tobacco smoking is the behavior most likely to cause lung cancer in people. Since more tobacco is smoked in Greene County than anywhere else in the world, there must be more lung cancer in Greene County than anywhere else in the world.

This is a different flaw. It moves from a risk factor and amount of tobacco smoked to a conclusion about total lung cancer cases. That is not the “best item in best group” structure.

(C) Susan Coleman is the oldest of the three children in her family. Since the three Coleman children are each older than any of the other children who live in their building, Susan Coleman must be the oldest child now living in the building.

This is not flawed in the same way. If all three Coleman children are older than all other children in the building, and Susan is the oldest Coleman child, then Susan really is the oldest child in the building.

(D) Of all the fish stores in the harbors area, Miller’s Fish Market has the most exotic selection of fish. Since there are many more fish stores in the harbor area than anywhere else in the city, Miller’s Fish Market must have the most exotic selection of fish in the city.

This is tempting, but not as close. It uses “many more fish stores,” not “the harbor area is the most exotic fish-store area.” So the group-level quality does not match the item-level quality as closely as in the original.

(E) Of all the flowers grown in the university’s botanical garden, the Oakland roses are the most beautiful. Since the university’s botanical garden is the most beautiful garden in the region, the Oakland roses grown in the garden must be the most beautiful flowers grown in the entire region.

This is correct.   It matches the original flaw exactly: the most beautiful flowers inside the most beautiful garden are assumed to be the most beautiful flowers in the whole region. But a different garden could contain even more beautiful flowers.

Answer: (E)

egmat · Answer

Hi Shlok02,

Good narrowing; A and E are the intended trap pair, so let's zero in on the one line that separates them.

First, pin down the original flaw. The argument says the historic district is the  most famous district as a whole , then leaps to the Tyler house being the most famous house in the whole city. That's the gap: a group being top-ranked  overall  doesn't guarantee its best single member beats the best members of every other group. Some other, less-famous district could still hold an even more famous house.

Now look carefully at A's second sentence:

"Since  the tallest peaks in the entire region are in the coastal mountain range ..."

That premise says something much stronger - it tells you the region's tallest peaks are  already located  in this one range. If every top contender lives in the coastal range, and Mount Williams tops that range, then Williams really is the region's tallest.  A's reasoning is valid , not flawed. There's no leap; the premise hands you the conclusion.

Contrast E:

"Since the university's botanical garden is  the most beautiful garden in the region ..."

That's a group-level property - the garden as a whole is most beautiful - exactly like "most famous district." It does  not  say the region's most beautiful flowers grow there. So concluding the roses are the most beautiful in the region repeats the original's illegitimate jump. That's why E matches.

The quick test:  ask whether the second premise ranks the  group as a whole  (flawed jump - original and E) or tells you the  top individuals are all inside that group  (valid - A). A passes that test, so it can't be the parallel flaw.

Answer: E

Of all the houses in the citys historic district, the house that once

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Of all the houses in the citys historic district, the house that once

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