Self-study
Journal editor: Our treasurer advises that Support because of our precarious financial situation, Support we should change from a paper version to an online version only if doing so will not increase the cost of publication. ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ █ █████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██ ██████ ████████ █████ █ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ████████
Summarize Argument
The argument can be diagrammed as follows:
Identify and Describe Flaw
The journal editor confuses necessary and sufficient conditions. He takes a necessary condition of changing from a paper version as a sufficient condition for making the change. We know that we should make the change only if it won’t increase the cost of publication, and the necessary condition (/increase cost of publication) is confirmed, but confirming a necessary condition doesn’t trigger the sufficient condition. From the information given, we cannot conclude that we should make the change.
22.
The journal editor's argument is ██████ ██ ████ ██
a
treats meeting a █████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ████ █ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████████
This is the flaw. The premises affirm the necessary condition of making the change (that the cost of the publication won’t increase), but this isn’t enough information to trigger the sufficient condition.
b
takes for granted ████ ██████████ █ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ █ ██████████ █████████ ████████
The editor does not comment on the reason that the journal is in a precarious financial situation. This is not an assumption that the editor makes. He only references the precarious financial situation to justify the conditions given for switching to an online version.
c
overlooks the possibility ████ ██ ██████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ██████████ ████ █ █████ ███████ ████ ████
This possibility is irrelevant to the argument. Cost is the only metric discussed in this argument. Other advantages are beyond the scope of this argument.
d
fails to rule ███ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ █ ██████████ █████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ███
The argument doesn’t need to rule out this possibility. The precarious financial situation is used to justify the claim that the change should only be made if costs won’t increase; it doesn’t t hurt the argument if the journal is still in a precarious financial position after the change.
e
bases its conclusion ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██ █████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██ █████████
The authority referenced is a treasurer and the treasurer is making claims about financial conditions. This is within the treasurer’s field of expertise.