Self-study
Conclusion Dried parsley should never be used in cooking, for Support it is far less tasty and healthful than fresh parsley is.
Summary
The author concludes that dried parsley should never be used in cooking.
Why?
Because dried parsley is far less tasty than fresh parsley.
Also, dried parsley is far less healthful than fresh parsley.
Notable Assumptions
We don’t have any premises that tell us when an ingredient “should never be used.” Let’s look for a bridge from one or both of the premises to “should never be used.” For example:
If the dried version of an ingredient is less tasty than the fresh version, then never used the dried version.
If the dried version of an ingredient is less healthful than the fresh version, then never used the dried version.
These are not the only principles that could strengthen the argument — keep an open mind. Ultimately we just want an answer that, if true, would make the conclusion more likely to follow from the given premises.
12.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████
a
Fresh ingredients should ██ ████ ██ ███████ ████████ █████████
Not strong enough to help the argument. We want to prove that dried parsley should NEVER be used in cooking. (A) would only allow us to say that dried ingredients shouldn’t be used whenever you have fresh ingredients available. But what if you don’t have fresh ingredients available? (A) wouldn’t command us not to use dried ingredients in that circumstance.
b
Only the tastiest ███████████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████████
(B), rephrased, states that if an ingredient is NOT the tastiest, then it should never be used in cooking. (In other words, in order for something to be appropriate to use in cooking, it must be among the tastiest ingredients.) A premise establishes that dried parsley is NOT the tastiest, because we know that it’s not as tasty as fresh parsley. So (B) would then allow us to conclude that we should not use dried parsley.
c
Ingredients that should █████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██████████
This both reverses what would be a better principle, and mistakes relative for absolute relationships. First, (C) doesn’t establish when we should never use an ingredient. It tells us that IF an ingredient should never be used, then it’s generally neither tasty nor healthful. But that doesn’t lead to the conclusion that an ingredient should never be used. In addition, we don’t know that dried parsley is “not tasty” and “not healthful.” We only know that it’s not AS tasty and not AS healthful as fresh parsley.
d
Parsley that is ███ ████ █████ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ████████
(D) mistakes relative for absolute relationships. We don’t know that dried parsley is “not both tasty and healthful.” All we know is that it’s not AS tasty and not AS healthful as fresh parshley. But dried parsley could still be tasty and healthful. So the principle in (D) doesn’t trigger.
e
In cooking, dried ███████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████████████
Leads to wrong conclusion. (E) helps us establish that dried ingredients are inferior to fresh ones. But we’re trying to prove that we should never, under any circumstances, use dried parsley. Are inferior ingredients things that should never ber used? We don’t know. Maybe occasionally it’s OK to use inferior ingredients.