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Zorluk: ZorWeaken

Archaeologists recently unearthed a set of highly standardized basalt weights in the ruins of Kaelen, an inland settlement dating to roughly 1800 BCE. These weights are virtually identical in mass and geometric shape to the standard merchant weights used during the same era in the distant coastal metropolis of Tylos. Historians have long maintained that the treacherous mountain range separating the two regions prevented any direct contact before 1200 BCE. Nonetheless, based on the discovery of these matched weights, Dr. Aris concludes that Kaelen and Tylos must have established a direct trade network with one another by 1800 BCE.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens Dr. Aris's argument?

  1. A
    Tylos possessed a formidable naval fleet that allowed its merchants to establish lucrative trade routes with coastal settlements located thousands of miles away.
  2. B
    Chemical analysis of the basalt used to carve the weights found in Tylos reveals that the stone was quarried from a site located less than ten miles from Kaelen.
  3. Both Kaelen and Tylos independently conducted extensive commerce with a nomadic merchant guild that strictly enforced its own standardized weight system across all its trading partners.Cevap
  4. D
    Although the identical weights constitute a larger percentage of the surviving commercial artifacts in Kaelen than in Tylos, the absolute number of weights found in Kaelen is significantly smaller.
  5. E
    Modern precision measurements of the Kaelen weights show substantial variations in mass from one weight to another, indicating they were not successfully standardized.

Cevap

The statement indicating that both cities traded independently with a nomadic merchant guild that enforced its own weight system.
The argument concludes that there was direct trade between Kaelen and Tylos based on the fact that they used identical weights. The correct answer weakens this conclusion by introducing a viable alternate explanation: a third-party nomadic guild traded with both cities and mandated the uniform weights. This completely accounts for the identical weights while maintaining that Kaelen and Tylos never interacted directly.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Identify the conclusion of the argument.
The conclusion is that Kaelen and Tylos established a direct trade network by 1800 BCE.
To weaken an argument, we must first isolate exactly what the author is trying to prove.
2
Identify the primary premise supporting the conclusion.
The primary evidence is that highly standardized basalt weights found in Kaelen are virtually identical to those used in Tylos during the same era.
Understanding the evidence allows us to spot the logical gap between the premise and the conclusion.
3
Analyze the logical gap in the argument.
The author assumes that because the weights are identical, the two cities must have interacted directly. The gap is the assumption that no third party or alternate cause could account for the shared weight system.
Weaken questions require exploiting this gap by finding an answer choice that presents a plausible alternative explanation.
4
Evaluate the answer choices to find the one that exploits the logical gap.
The choice involving a nomadic merchant guild provides a third-party intermediary, explaining how both cities obtained identical weights without any direct contact.
This directly severs the link between the evidence (identical weights) and the conclusion (direct trade).

Anahtar Kavram

Identifying Alternate Causes in Causal/Correlational Arguments
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Konular

Weaken

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