PrepTest 129

Incorrect. The premise is about the large number of satirical plays written about Flavius. Even if the vast majority of plays were about other topics, the sheer number of plays about a certain topic could certainly speak to a societal viewpoint.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Errors in Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
Flavius's priorities—Promote hard work. Defund the arts.
Premise—Flavius had a large number of satirical plays written about him
Conclusion—Flavius was unpopular

Answer Anticipation:
The argument here uses the large number of satires written about Flavius as evidence that he was unpopular. However, that's using the feelings of those writing the plays as indicative of the feelings of the population generally. While that would normally be a potentially unrepresentative, it's made even worse by something we learn about Flavius—he defunded the arts. That means the playwrights were probably more angry with him than the average citizen, thus making an argument relying on their opinion being representative even worse!

Answer Explanation:
This answer gets at the sampling flaw. The argument uses the plays to measure overall popularity, when what it's really measuring is how the playwrights felt about Flavius, and they had a reason to be biased against him that the average citizen wouldn't.

Key Takeaway:
Whenever an argument attempts to measure something indirectly, there's always the chance that the data is skewed in some way. And when the indirect measurement involves only certain people, well, we're back to our sampling flaw!

Incorrect. There is evidence provided that he disliked the arts—he cut their funding.

Incorrect. Whether these attempts were successful or not is out of scope—a large number of satirical plays were written in either case.

Incorrect. The argument relies on the satirical plays to measure Flavius's popularity. Whether he promoted virtues is irrelevant—someone can promote popular things while being unpopular.