PrepTest 48, Section 2, Question 21
Catmull: Although historians consider themselves to be social scientists, different historians never arrive at the same conclusions about specific events of the past. Thus historians never determine what actually happened; like novelists, they merely create interesting fictional stories about the many different problems that people have faced.
Catmull: Although historians consider themselves to be social scientists, different historians never arrive at the same conclusions about specific events of the past. Thus historians never determine what actually happened; like novelists, they merely create interesting fictional stories about the many different problems that people have faced.
Catmull: Although historians consider themselves to be social scientists, different historians never arrive at the same conclusions about specific events of the past. Thus historians never determine what actually happened; like novelists, they merely create interesting fictional stories about the many different problems that people have faced.
Catmull: Although historians consider themselves to be social scientists, different historians never arrive at the same conclusions about specific events of the past. Thus historians never determine what actually happened; like novelists, they merely create interesting fictional stories about the many different problems that people have faced.
The reasoning in Catmull's argument is flawed because the argument
draws a conclusion that simply restates a claim presented in support of that conclusion
concludes, solely on the basis of the claim that different people have reached different conclusions about a topic, that none of these conclusions is true
presumes, without providing justification, that unless historians' conclusions are objectively true, they have no value whatsoever
bases its conclusion on premises that contradict each other
mistakes a necessary condition for the objective truth of historians' conclusions for a sufficient condition for the objective truth of those conclusions
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