Self-study
Support Many conceptual categories are parts of dichotomous (distinct and mutually exclusive) pairs: good or bad, right or wrong, rational or irrational, etc. ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ █████████████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ███████████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███████████████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███████████ ███████████████ ████ ████████ █████████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████
Method of Reasoning
The author states that there are some long-held dichotomies that have been shown to be untrue, and gives several examples, like the division between plants and animals. The author concludes, on this basis, that dichotomous classifications should be abandoned.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is a mix of hasty generalization and confusing part and whole. Even if some dichotomous classifications should be abandoned, perhaps there are others that are still valuable. There’s not enough evidence to conclude that the whole system of dichotomous classifications should be eliminated.
The correct answer choice will repeat this flaw. It will provide evidence that some subset is flawed, and conclude on the basis of this insufficient evidence that the broader category should be eliminated.
25.
Which one of the following ████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
Review by outside ███████████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███ ██ ████ █████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████
(A) only talks about the company’s computers. It doesn’t use evidence about the computers to generalize about all of the company’s electronics, for instance.
b
Recent clinical trials ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████ ███ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ████████████████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████████
(B) claims that because some antianxiety drugs are addictive and have bad side effects, all antianxiety drugs should be abandoned. This is the same reasoning as in the stimulus — it provides evidence that some subset is flawed, and concludes on that basis that the broader category should be eliminated.
c
Current highway safety ████ ███████ ███████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████
(C) provides evidence about the whole category (all intoxicated drivers are dangerous), which it uses to support an argument about the whole category (we should get all intoxicated drivers off the road). In contrast, the stimulus provides evidence about only a subset, and uses the evidence to support a conclusion about the whole.
d
The longer fruit ██ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ███████ █████ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███ █ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████
(C) makes a conclusion about a subset (peaches) based on information about the whole (fruit in general). This is different from the stimulus, which makes a conclusion about the whole based on evidence about a subset.
e
This budget is █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ █ ████ █████████ ████
(E) doesn’t use evidence about a subset to make a conclusion about the whole. If it had given evidence about past revenue for one product line, and used this to support a conclusion about all revenue, that would make it more similar to the stimulus.