PT112.S1.Q8

PrepTest 112 - Section 1 - Question 8

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It has been claimed that television networks should provide equal time for the presentation of opposing views whenever a television program concerns scientific issues—such as those raised by the claims of environmentalists—about which people disagree. ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ████ █████████ █████████ ████████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ █ ███████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███████████

Structure: Counter-Argument

The author rejects some people's argument that, when a TV program talks about a scientific issue people disagree on, it should allow equal time for opposing views. The author appeals to an analogy, or rather a disanalogy (a contrast), with TV programs about social issues. The author concedes that such programs do have an obligation to provide equal time for opposing viewpoints, but claims that they have this obligation because social issues have "political implications" and can't be decided based on the available evidence. He argues that TV programs dealing with scientific issues, meanwhile, have no such equal time obligation.

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8.

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

a

No scientific issues ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████████████████ ████ █████████ █████████ █████████████
Incorrect. (A) supports, not undermines, the author's assumption that scientific issues, unlike social issues, don't have important political implications.
4%
b

There are often ████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████████ █████████
Incorrect. Even if (B) is true, remember that the author thinks scientific issues can be settled on the basis of available evidence. So unless we know that some scientific issues definitely cannot be settled based on available evidence, (B) isn't relevant to scientific issues, as far as the author is concerned, and doesn't undermine the author's argument.
3%
c

Some social issues █████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ █████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ ████████ █ ████ ████████
Incorrect. The author has already said that social issues "seldom" — i.e., rarely — can be settled based on the available evidence, but that doesn't mean they can never be settled this way. So (C) doesn't undermine anything the author says, let alone the author's main point.
7%
d

Many scientific issues ████ █████████ █████████ ████████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████
Correct. (D) negates the key assumption the author makes, as we discussed above. So (D) seriously undermines the author's argument.
83%
e

Some television networks ██████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ █████████ █████████ ████████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████
Incorrect. What certain TV networks choose to broadcast isn't relevant to the author's general claim that TV programs about science don't have the same obligations as TV programs about social issues.
2%

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