Although most builders do not consider the experimental building

Although most builders do not consider the experimental building material papercrete to be a promising material for large-scale construction, those who regularly work with it, primarily on small-scale projects, think otherwise. Since those who regularly use papercrete are familiar with the properties of the material, it is likely that papercrete is indeed promising for large-scale construction.

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it

(A) confuses what is promising for small-scale construction with what is promising for large-scale construction


Hey, glad to help.

See the essence of the argument needs to be deconstructed because both A and E are extremely close and subtle.

Although most builders do not consider the experimental building material papercrete to be a promising material for large-scale construction, those who regularly work with it, primarily on small-scale projects, think otherwise.
Author here states some difference of opinion between 2 groups.

Since those who regularly use papercrete are familiar with the properties of the material, it is likely that papercrete is indeed promising for large-scale construction.
And here, the author provides the reasoning for that difference.

Now in such vulnerability questions, we need to find a flaw in the reasoning. So just focus on the latter sentence : Since those who regularly use papercrete are familiar with the properties of the material, it is likely that papercrete is indeed promising for large-scale construction..


Clearly the flaw is the assumption in E as the essence of his reasoning is the "familiarity with the properties of material". So, he assumes the large scale guys are NOT familiar.

On the other hand, in option A = (confuses what is promising for small-scale construction with what is promising for large-scale construction), I mean, that is not the essence of the passage. Option A is something I treat as a very generic statement. He does confuse it to be honest. And yes he does say some facts about small scale guys and generalize about large scale guys based on those facts. But if you look at E, it is bang on the money. I agree option A is also somewhat true, but very vague and not specific vulnerability.
Also, is he simply confusing from small guys facts to large scale? I can clearly see a very troublesome assumption i.e. "familiarity with material". That is the primary flaw. He is very wrongly assuming that large scale guys are "not familiar".

I hope you see what A vs E is. A is very vague. E is right on the money. Honestly, A is true too. But if I see an option like E, I cannot choose A.

Regards,
Saakhi