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Took super detailed notes so either I missed it in the course or it is not in there yet.
As follows: "Which one of the following would be most useful to know in order to evaluate the argument?"
They have a RRE feel? At any rate can someone point me in the right direction for these?
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Treat it the same way as "The answer to which one of the following questions would most help in evaluating the argument above" questions. The answers will just be worded slightly different.
That particular type isn't as intimidating as it sounds. To answer it, I locate the conclusion and see how the premises point to it.
In my experience, the answer ends up being something that allows you to determine whether the authors conclusion is true or false (not with 100% certainty, but it either aids or harms the conclusion)
Like the others have already stated, a lot of these look like strengthen or weakening questions where they took the strengthening or weakening statement and turned it into a question.
Hope that makes sense. I think I edited this post about 10 times...clearly I was all over the place while typing it.
I see those as a hybrid of Strengthen/Weaken questions, because they usually address an assumption made in the argument. For the correct answer choice, the two opposing answers to the posed questions would either strengthen or weaken the argument. For the wrong answers, either they are unrelated to the argument, or the two opposing answers to the questions wouldn't have an impact on the argument.
Let's say the argument says: A study of 1000 vegetarians shows that 50% of them live to be 75. Therefore a vegetarian lifestyle improves your chances of living a long life.
"Which one of the following would be most useful to know in order to evaluate the argument?"
A (wrong answer). What percentage of vegetarians live to be 90?
Whether it's 1% or 100%, this doesn't help or hurt the argument.
B. (correct answer). What percentage of meat eaters live to be 75?
If it's 20%, then that strengthens the argument. Looks like more vegetarians live longer
If it's 80%, that weakens the argument. The vegetarian percentage doesn't look so good anymore.
I understand the RRE feel. But, I think the difference is the lack of a discrepancy that needs explaining or resolving. While pretty rare, these questions fall under the "Evaluate the Argument" type. With that being said, these are like Strengthening/Weakening questions but with a different look.