QUESTION TEXT: Most movie critics believe that sentimentality…
QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning
CONCLUSION: Critics are wrong to believe sentimentality detracts from aesthetic value.
REASONING: The reason they hold this belief is because sentimentality pervades so many movies that its absence makes a movie more interesting.
ANALYSIS: Think about what is being argued here. The author is making a case that the critics are wrong to believe something because they believe it based on a bad reason. However, the argument does not talk at all about the belief on its own merits. Couldn’t it be the case that sentimentality really does detract from aesthetic value, but critics just came upon this fact the wrong way?
___________
- This is a different flaw.
Example of flaw: Critics are wrong to believe sentimentality detracts from aesthetic value because the director of a film society said so. - This is a different flaw.
Example of flaw: Critics are wrong to believe sentimentality detracts from aesthetic value because they just need more things to complain about in their bad reviews. - This doesn’t happen.
Example of flaw: All good movies have a good story. This movie has a good story, so it must be a good movie. - CORRECT. This is correct. Just because critics come to this belief based on bad reasoning doesn’t mean that their conclusion is wrong. For example, someone who thinks it is daytime because the light is on in their room doesn’t mean they are wrong about it being daytime.
- This didn’t happen.
Example of flaw: Bad film quality makes a movie bad. Since this movie didn’t have bad film quality, it must be good.
Free Logical Reasoning lesson
Get a free sample of the Logical Reasoning Mastery Seminar. Learn tips for solving LR questions
Leave a Reply