PT107.S1.Q23

PrepTest 107 - Section 1 - Question 23

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Support Linda says that, as a scientist, she knows that no scientist appreciates poetry. ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████████

Method of Reasoning

The argument starts with a claim by Linda, who appeals to her experience as a scientist to state that no scientist appreciates poetry. The argument then builds on Linda's claim, adding another premise: most scientists are logical. From these two premises, the argument concludes that at least some people who appreciate poetry are illogical.

Identify and Describe Flaw

Besides the flaw of assuming without warrant that Linda's assertion is actually true, just because she is a scientist, the argument is flawed because it incorrectly combines the two premises. Linda's claim that no scientist appreciates poetry translates to "all scientists do not appreciate poetry." The next statement, "most scientists are logical," also implies "some logical people are scientists." Combining these two statements, we can conclude that some logical people do not appreciate poetry: logical ←s→ /appreciate. But the conclusion of this argument incorrectly tries to take a "contrapositive" of this "some" statement, to claim that some people who appreciate poetry are illogical: appreciate ←s→ /logical.

Expressing this graphically, we have:

(Linda says) scientist → /appreciate
scientist -m→ logical
______
appreciate ←s→ /logical. (Somehow, the negation moves from "appreciate" to "logical").

More abstractly, we're looking for an answer choice following this pattern:

(someone's assertion) A → /B
A -m→ C
______
B ←s→ /C
User Avatar Analysis by ArdaschirArguelles
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23.

Which one of the following ██ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██████

a

Ralph says that, ██ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███ █████

b

Franz says that, ██ █ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████

c

Yuri says that, ██ █ ████ ████████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████

d

Xi says that, ██ ██ ███████████ █████████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ███████████████ █████

e

Betty says that, ██ █ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ███████

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