Support Books that present a utopian future in which the inequities and sufferings of the present are replaced by more harmonious and rational social arrangements will always find enthusiastic buyers. █████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ████ ████████
The argument presents a conditional relationship (if a book presents a utopian future, then people will buy it). It then concludes that the absence of the sufficient condition (books that don’t present utopian futures) implies the absence of the necessary condition (people won’t buy them).
This argument features the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing a sufficient condition for a necessary condition. It’s still entirely possible to have the necessary condition (people buying the book) without having the sufficient condition (presenting a utopian future), so the absence of the sufficient condition doesn’t support any conclusions.
The questionable pattern of reasoning ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
Art that portrays ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ███ █ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ████████
Wrong flaw. (A) sets up a conditional relationship: if a person is tense or anxious, then they will like the tranquilizing effects of art that portrays people as happy. It then tries to conclude that the absence of the necessary condition leads to the absence of the sufficient condition. The conclusion is about people who don’t like the art overall, however, instead of those who don’t like the art’s effects, so the necessary condition is not actually denied. The stimulus, meanwhile, concludes that the absence of a sufficient condition leads the the absence of a necessary condition, so (A) doesn’t match.
People who enjoy █████████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████████ █████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ █████████ █████████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████████
Wrong flaw. (B) gives us information about people who enjoy watching contact sports, then invalidly draws a conclusion about those who participate in contact sports. The stimulus, meanwhile, concludes that the absence of a sufficient condition leads the the absence of a necessary condition, so (B) doesn’t match.
Action movies that ███████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███████████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██████ █████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ████████
(C) presents a conditional relationship: if an action movie involves dangerous/complicated special-effects scenes, then it’s expensive to produce. It then concludes that the absence of the sufficient condition (movies that don’t have these scenes) implies the absence of the necessary condition (they won’t be expensive to produce). The stimulus also concludes that the absence of a sufficient condition leads the the absence of a necessary condition, so (C) matches.
Adults usually feel █ ████████ █████████ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ████████████ ███ █████ ███████████ █████ ████ █████ ████████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████
Wrong flaw. (D) tells us how adults feel about the music they listened to as kids, but this gives us no information about how they’ll feel about music they hear as adults. The stimulus, meanwhile, concludes that the absence of a sufficient condition leads the the absence of a necessary condition, so (D) doesn’t match.
All self-employed businesspeople ████ ████████ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████████
No flaw. We’re given a conditional statement (if you’re a self-employed businessperson, then your salary fluctuates with the economy), and then told that bureaucrats don’t satisfy the sufficient condition. The argument then concludes that some people who satisfy the necessary condition must not be bureaucrats. This is valid since we know that self-employed businesspeople satisfy the necessary condition, but are not bureaucrats.
Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.
It takes about five minutes.
Take the free diagnostic