Self-study
Support Most auto mechanics have extensive experience. ████████████ ████ █████████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ ██████████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ █████████
Method of Reasoning
The argument presents two “most” statements. It then chains them to conclude that most of the first set (auto mechanics) belong to the last set (those who understand electronic circuits).
Identify and Describe Flaw
This argument features a flawed understanding of “most” statements. Whenever an argument features only these statements, they cannot be chained like conditional statements. It’s like concluding that most Americans don’t live in America, since most Americans drive cars, and most people who drive cars don’t live in America. As such, no valid relationship exists between the first and last sets.
23.
The pattern of flawed reasoning ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
During times of ███ ████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ████████ ███████████
Wrong flaw. (A) presents a correlation (high traffic and high gas prices), and a causal relationship (high gas prices cause consumer complaints). It then invalidly concludes that high traffic causes consumer complaints, even though the first premise is only a correlation. The stimulus, meanwhile, features an invalid chaining of two “most” statements, so (A) doesn’t match.
b
The most common ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████
Wrong flaw. Although (B) appears to feature two “most” statements, the first sentence is not a true “most” statement. Even if the most common species are migratory, they might only make up a fraction of the overall bird population. Because of this difference, the first sentence does not link to the second. Since the stimulus does feature two “most” statements that can link up, albeit in a flawed way, (B) doesn’t match.
c
It is not ██████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ █████
Wrong flaw. (C) gives us a single “most” statement as a premise (most drivers who don’t want to drive fast don’t buy sports cars) and then makes a conclusion that invalidly brings up a new variable (speeding tickets). The stimulus, meanwhile, features two most statements chained together instead of just one, so (C) doesn’t match.
d
Most nature photographers ████ ████████ ███████████ ███████ █████████ ████ ████████ █████████████ ██████████ █████ █████████████ ████████████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████████ ████ █████████████ ███████████ ██████████ ███████
Wrong flaw. (D) does feature two “most” statements, but they have no shared variables. Statement 1 is about nature photographers and people who find portrait photography boring, whereas statement 2 is about portrait photographers and those who enjoy photographing dignitaries. There is no way to connect these statements, so the conclusion is unsupported. Since the stimulus does feature two “most” statements that can be linked, albeit in a flawed way, (D) doesn’t match.
e
Most snow-removal companies ███ █████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ █████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████████████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████
(E) presents two “most” statements. It then incorrectly chains them to conclude that most of the first set (snow-removal companies) belong to the last set (companies that hire extra workers in the summer). The stimulus also incorrectly chains two most statements to conclude that most of the first set belong to the last set, so (E) matches.