Self-study
The consequences of surgical errors can be devastating, and Support no one would want to risk surgery unless it was performed by someone highly competent to perform surgery. ███████ ████████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ █ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ███████████ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that surgery performed by anyone other than a general surgeon involves undesirable risks. As premises, he gives two conditional claims:
(1) If a surgery is performed by someone who is not highly competent, it involves unwanted/undesirable risks.
(2) If someone is a general surgeon, that person has special training that makes them highly competent at performing surgery.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the flaw of mistaking sufficiency for necessity. The author treats “being a general surgeon” as necessary for “being highly competent at performing surgery.” But according to premise 2, “being a general surgeon” is sufficient, not necessary.
In other words, the argument overlooks the possibility that other kinds of doctors might also be highly competent at performing surgery.
10.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ████
a
there are general ████████ ███ ███ ███████████
The author doesn't fail to consider this. In fact, he explicitly claims that general surgeons are highly competent, at least when it comes to performing surgery.
b
general surgeons are ███ ███ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ ███████
The author mistakenly treats “being a general surgeon” as necessary for “being highly competent at performing surgery,” while in the premises, it’s merely sufficient. He fails to consider the possibility that other doctors may also be highly competent at performing surgery.
c
the competence of ███ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ █ ██████████ ███████
The author never claims that a competent doctor guarantees a successful surgery. He just argues that a surgery performed by an incompetent doctor involves highly undesirable risks.
d
risk is not ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████
The author concludes that surgery performed by anyone other than a general surgeon involves undesirable risks. But he never claims that the riskiness of a surgery is the only factor in deciding whether to have it.
e
factors in addition ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ █ ██████
The author doesn’t claim that competence is the only relevant factor when choosing a doctor. He just argues that a surgery performed by an incompetent doctor involves highly undesirable risks.