Self-study
Many doctors cater to patients' demands that they be prescribed antibiotics for their colds. ████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████ █████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████
Summary
The author concludes that doctors should never prescribe antibiotics to treat colds because antibiotics have no effect on colds and they can have dangerous side effects.
Notable Assumptions
The author says that doctors shouldn’t give antibiotics for colds because they’re ineffective and can be dangerous. But his premises never establish that doctors should avoid prescribing medicine if it’s ineffective and risky—he just assumes this to be the case. So, his reasoning closely conforms to the principle that doctors shouldn’t prescribe medicine for an illness if it doesn’t help with the illness and if it could have dangerous side effects.
1.
The reasoning above most closely ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████
a
A doctor should ███ █████████ █ ████ ███ █ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ████ ████████
The author’s argument closely conforms to this principle because he argues that doctors shouldn’t prescribe antibiotics for colds since they cannot improve colds and since they potentially have adverse side effects.
b
A doctor should ███ █████████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ █ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████
The author’s argument doesn’t conform to this principle because he’s only addressing a drug that does not have a positive effect on certain patients. He might think that some potentially harmful drugs are worth the risk if they’re effective.
c
A doctor should ███████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███████████
The author’s argument doesn’t conform to this principle because he’s arguing that antibiotics should not be prescribed for colds. Also, he’s addressing a drug that will not affect cold patients’ health positively.
d
A doctor should ████████ █████████ ████ █ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████
The author establishes that antibiotics will not benefit patients with colds, so antibiotics aren’t even a treatment for colds. Instead of (D), we need to establish that doctors should withhold a drug from patients if that drug is ineffective and potentially harmful.
e
A doctor should █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ █ ███████ ██████████ ███ █ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ ███ █████████████ ██ ████ ███████████
The author’s argument doesn’t conform to this principle. He says doctors shouldn’t prescribe antibiotics for colds because they don’t work and might be harmful—not because patients believe they work.