answer

@ariella the comparison here is between medieval societies and contemporary Western cultures so (C) is not true. The argument is not applying contemporary standards inappropriately to medieval societies. The flaw here is that the author is overgeneralizing from an unrepresentative sample, i.e. monastic authors. Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Why is A incorrect?

@Shiyi-Zhang, Happy to help. The argument is basically saying that the writings of some monks show the enthusiastic acceptance of ascetic (which means 'simple') lifestyles. From this, the argument says we can conclude that medieval societies were much less concerned with making money than modern Western cultures are today. See the problem? The argument is taking the writings of monks and making a general conclusion about medieval society in general. Monks represent a very small, unique way of living that's likely not representative of the society as a whole, so we can't conclude that the society as a whole felt the way the monks did. This is an unrepresentative sample. The question stem says, "The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to the criticism on the grounds that the argument..." (A) says, "employs the imprecise term 'ascetic.' The definition of 'ascetic' is characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons. There isn't anything imprecise about this definition or how the author uses it in the argument. It has one meaning. We can get rid of (A). (B) says, "generalizes from a sample that is likely to be unrepresentative." This fits our anticipation. The support is about monks and their writing, while the conclusion makes a claim about all of society. This is generalizing from an unrepresentative sample at it's finest. This is our answer choice. Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any questions!

Hi, can answer choice D be deconstructed please.