The case of the French Revolution is typically regarded as the best evidence for the claim that societies can reap more benefit than harm from a revolution. But even the French Revolution serves this role poorly, since France at the time of the Revolution had a unique advantage. Despite the Revolution, the same civil servants and functionaries remained in office, carrying on the day-to-day work of government, and thus many of the disruptions that revolutions normally bring were avoided. Which one of the following most accurately characterizes the argumentative strategy used in the passage? ['opposing a claim by undermining evidence offered in support of that claim', 'demonstrating that the claim argued against is internally inconsistent', 'comparing two positions in order to illustrate their relative strengths and weaknesses', 'justifying a view through the use of a series of persuasive examples']