Self-study
The report released by the interior ministry states that within the past 5 years the national land-reclamation program has resulted in a 19 percent increase in the amount of arable land within the country. ██ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ █ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ███████ █ █████████████ █████████████ ███ █ █████ ██ ████████████ ███████████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████
Method of Reasoning
The author concludes that the report about the land reclamation program’s success cannot be accurate. His reasoning is that Armand, a senator and a mathematician, thinks the land reclamation program could not have been successful.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of appealing to an authority with irrelevant expertise. However brilliant Senator Armand may be, we have no reason to suppose she’s an expert on the land reclamation program. Yet the author considers her opinion beyond question.
20.
The argument above exhibits an █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Albert's father claims ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██████ ██ █████
This the wrong flaw. His father could have moved the keys since yesterday, but Albert’s testimony is still highly relevant here. By contrast, the stimulus commits the cookie-cutter flaw of appealing to an irrelevant authority.
b
Gloria's drama teacher ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ██ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████████████ ███ █████████ █████ ██████ ██ █████
This is the wrong flaw. (B) fails to consider that Gloria’s report might be false, but Gloria’s report would still be dispositive here. (I.e. if Gloria were telling the truth, this argument would be valid.) By contrast, the stimulus gives no reason to believe that Senator Armand’s expertise is relevant. Consequently, it commits the cookie-cutter flaw of appealing to an irrelevant authority.
c
Amos claims that ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ███ █ ████ █████ ███ ████████ █ ███████████████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ██ █████
This argument is not clearly flawed, unlike the stimulus. Dr. Treviso is an expert said to have knowledge about how long humans can hold their breath, which is clearly pertinent here. By contrast, the stimulus gives no reason to believe that Senator Armand’s expertise is relevant to the program in question. Consequently, by relying on her it commits the cookie-cutter flaw of appealing to an irrelevant authority.
d
Evelyn reports that ███ ███ ████ ██████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ █████
This is the wrong flaw. (D) commits the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing necessary and sufficient conditions. (”Robert is right” here means that Evelyn’s report is true.) By contrast, the stimulus commits the cookie-cutter flaw of appealing to an irrelevant authority.
e
Moira, after observing ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ████ █████ █ ███████ ██████ ██████ █ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███ █ ████ ██ █████ █████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████
(E) concludes that Moira’s report about Lee’s victory in the bicycle race cannot be accurate. The reasoning is that Lomas, a bicycle engineer, thinks Lee could not have won the race.
Like the stimulus, (E) commits the cookie-cutter flaw of appealing to an authority with irrelevant expertise. Just because Lomas is an expert bicycle engineer doesn’t mean he’s an expert on competitive cycling, or this race in particular.