zagreus77
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Jackie Chiles
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2256

by zagreus77 Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:42 pm

Children tend to panic when they hear thunder, and children who panic often have a hard time calming down.

We can infer that...

Some people who are disturbed by a weather event can have difficulty relaxing.

Disturbing weather events cause widespread panic.
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Visit arcade forum to discuss the question (QUESTION # 2256)


I don't think the credited choice (Some people...) is a valid inference. The most most formulation doesn't work because 1) often, like the term many, is a glorified some. Therefore the fact that children tend to panic 51 plus, doesn't necessarily overlap with the group of children that often have a hard time calming down after panicking. And 2) the two group are not identical ( children who hear thunder and the general group of children who panic) and the children who tend to panic are in the necc part of conditional statement-- so even if usually were substituted for often, the most most template would not lead to a valid some conclusion.

Well the argument could be the inference is "can" means that it's modally possible that some people who are disturbed by weather can have this problem. But this is a modal fallacy. Not knowing whether something is possible or not does not make it possible. The fact that the premises allow for the possibility that a least one can be so affected, doesn't mean the modal possibility can be inferred. That is, the argument is consistent with possibility or impossibility of such a state contained in the inference, and thus possibility can not be validly deduced.

The fact the argument is not valid can be illustrated by the adding premise, "Oddly, it is always the case that children who panic due to weather always calm down quickly." This would involve no contradiction with the premises, and would defeat the validity of drawing the conclusion (inference). Thus the premises do not guarantee the truth of the inference-- thus, the inference is not valid.

This would, however, be a fine choice for a most supported quasi inference. Perhaps the Ah Ha game section should include most supported question stems in addition to inference ones.
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noah
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Re: 2256

by noah Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:14 pm

zagreus77, you're the bomb.

Fixed the question. Now it says "usually."