Self-study
Legislator: A foreign company is attempting to buy FerroMetal, a domestic iron-mining company. ██ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ █████ █████████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████ █ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██ █████ █ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ███████ ███ █████████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███ █████████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ █ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████
Summarize Argument
The legislator concludes that the sale of FerroMetal should be prohibited. He supports this by saying that manufacturing is crucial to the economy, so the country needs a reliable supply of iron ore. And if a foreign company buys FerroMetal, it would lead to more foreign control over iron mining, eventually making it impossible for manufacturers to rely on domestic iron ore.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The legislator assumes that selling FerroMetal would lead to foreign control over iron mining, which would make it impossible for manufacturers to rely on domestic iron ore. But he doesn’t give any evidence that the sale of FerroMetal would actually cause this chain of consequences, nor does he consider other possible outcomes.
3.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ █ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████████ █████████
a
The argument draws █ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████████ █ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ███████████
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of circular reasoning, where the argument’s conclusion merely restates one of its premises. The legislator doesn’t make this mistake. His premises don’t support his conclusion well, but they are distinct from his conclusion.
b
The argument takes ███ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████
The legislator doesn’t assume that what’s true of the iron industry is true of industry in general. Instead, he assumes that the sale of FerroMetal will lead to a long chain of consequences within the iron industry.
c
The argument defends █ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████
The legislator argues that the sale should be prohibited, but not on the grounds that prohibiting the sale is widely accepted. Instead, he argues that the sale should be prohibited because it will lead to a chain of negative consequences for iron companies and manufacturers.
d
The argument presents █ █████ ██ ████████ ████████████ ██ █ █████ █████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ███ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████
The legislator assumes that the sale of FerroMetal will inevitably lead to a chain of possible consequences. He never provides any evidence that it will actually cause these consequences, nor does he consider other potential outcomes.
e
The argument concludes ████ ███ █████ █████ █████ █ ██████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████
The legislator argues that the sale of FerroMetal would cause multiple other events, but there’s no reason to believe that those events would have to precede the sale of FerroMetal.