Self-study
Support Lucinda will soon be attending National University as an engineering major. ██ ████████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ █████
Method of Reasoning
The argument starts by telling us about a single part (Lucinda) of a group (engineering majors at National University). It then describes a characteristic of some people in that group (at National University, most residents of Western Hall are engineering majors) and, finally, draws a conclusion about the single part of the group (Lucinda will probably live in Western Hall).
Identify and Describe Flaw
The argument is flawed because its fails to set parameters. The argument reasons that since most residents of Western Hall are engineering majors, Lucinda will likely live in Western Hall. However, the argument fails to consider what percentage of engineering majors at National University live in Western Hall. If 90 percent of engineering majors live at Western Hall because it’s one of the only halls they can live at, then it’s likely Lucinda will live there. But if, says, only 10% of engineering majors at National University live in Western Hall because there are a ton of other options, it may not be likely that Lucinda will live there.
24.
Which one of the following █████████ ████████ █ ██████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
A major shopping ████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ████████ █████ ███ ████████ ████████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ █ ████████ ████████ ████
No flaw. If most cities with major shopping malls are regional economic hubs, and your city is constructing a major shopping mall, your city will likely become a major economic hub.
b
Cities that are ████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ █ ████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███████████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████████ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████
Wrong flaw. Just because most cities that are regional economic hubs generally experience tremendous economic growth at some point, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your city, which is a regional economic hub that hasn’t experienced tremendous economic growth, will eventually experience that kind of growth. It’s entirely possible that your city is an outlier or lacks the necessary conditions to experience that kind of growth. In the stimulus, alternatively, the argument is flawed because of its failure to set parameters around how many living options are available to Lucinda.
c
Cities that are ████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ████ █████████ ██████████████ ████████ ██ ██ ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ██████ █ ████████ ████████ ████
Wrong flaw. (C) reasons that since cities that are regional economic hubs have excellent transportation systems, and your city’s transportation system is widely considered inadequate, your city likely won’t become a regional economic hub. (C) errs because just because it’s “widely accepted” that your city’s transportation system is inadequate, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. The wording is ambiguous. The stimulus, alternatively, isn’t flawed because of ambiguous wording.
d
A major shopping ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ████████ ██████ █████ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ███████ ██████████
Wrong flaw. (C) commits a cookie-cutter “hasty generalization” flaw. (D) reasons that because a major shopping mall was built in your city and your city experienced tremendous economic growth afterwards, most cities where major shopping malls are built will also experience tremendous economic growth. (D) draws too broad of a conclusion on the basis of one instance. The stimulus, meanwhile, doesn’t commit a hasty generalization error.
e
Most cities that ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████ ████████ ██████ █ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ █ ████████ ████████ ████
The argument tells us about a single city (”our city” that is having a major shopping mall built in it). It also describes a characteristic of many cities that are regional economic hubs (they contain major shopping malls), and draws a conclusion about the single city (”our city” will likely become a regional economic hub because a major shopping mall is being built in it). This commits the same flaw as the stimulus of failing to set parameters. If 90 percent of cities with major shopping malls become regional economic hubs, it’s likely “our city” will become a regional economic hub. But if, say, only 10 percent of cities with major shopping malls become regional economic hubs, it may not be likely that “our city” will become a regional economic hub.