One form of reasoning holds that by eliminating all possible

Question

One form of reasoning holds that by eliminating all possible explanations until only one remains, that one should be accepted. Critics argue that the flaw in this form of reasoning is that one cannot know about all possible explanations.

Which of the following examples best supports this criticism?
a) the possible causes of heart disease
b) the possible results of rolling dice
c) the possible family members who left the house unlocked
d) the possible candidates running for mayor of Atlanta, Georgia
e) the possible countries with nuclear weapons

monarc · Answer

This is a very general type of question and by POE, I am down to A and E. One can argue that there might be other countries that may be secretly having Nuclear Weapons (WMD's Like IRAQ :lol:

)....and at the same time there might be some reason undetected by DOCTORS that might lead to heart disease... Given that argument is talking about cause and effect kind of relationship, I will go for A... Fingers crossed. B) We know the Possible results of rolling Dice.... C)The possible member is ONE of the Family members. D) We may know that

cbrf3 · Answer

Interesting Paul.........would pick E......also A is a good contender but B, C, D can be reasoned as knowing all the possibilities.......!!

Twinkle · Answer

My answer is E.
Till now the possible causes of heart disease are well defined.

anandnk · Answer

I will go with E. 

It is impossible to determine the intentions of the country. Whereas the all possible causes of hart attack can be know because heart does not have a mind of its own and scientists will eventually find all of them.
Then Again A could be right because of cause and effect relationship.

Jumbee · Answer

The answer is A. There may be yet unknown heart diseases, not just the ones that we know the causes of today. 

Say no to E. You can list all the countries in the world. This would be the list of all possible countries that could have nukes. 

D is actually more interesting, depending on the requirements to run for mayor, the list of possible candidates could include every person on the planet but the list could still be made.

Paul · Answer

This was best explanation! OA is A

anandnk · Answer

I agree with Jumbee. E is wrong. Actually E is similar to C.

I support A now.

One form of reasoning holds that by eliminating all possible

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