Self-study
Politician: Support Our government's Ministry of the Environment issues scientific assessments of the ecological impacts of industrial activities. ████████ █████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ █ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████
Summary
The author concludes that the Ministry of Health should not issue scientific assessments that relate to health issues.
Why does the author believe this?
Because currently, the Ministry of the Environment issues these assessments, and these assessments are often inaccurate due to political pressure on that ministry.
The Ministry of Health will also be subject to political pressures.
Notable Assumptions
The conclusion asserts that the Ministry of Health “should not” issue the scientific assessments. But we have no premises telling us what the ministry “should not” issue. We want to connect the premises to the idea that the ministry “should not” issue the scientific assessment. For example:
If a previous ministry issued scientific assessments that were often inaccurate due to a certain cause, then if a new ministry is also subject to that cause, it should not issue assessments.
or
If a new ministry is at risk of producing inaccurate scientific assessments, then it should not issue scientific assessments.
Let’s keep an open mind. The correct answer may not sound exactly like the examples above.
20.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████████ █████████
a
If there was ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ██ █ ███ ██ ██████ ██████ █ ██████████ ████████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ███████████ ███ █████ ███████████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████
Wrong trigger. We don’t know that there was “no need for scientific assessments” before the ministry responsible for health issues was formed. It’s also not clear that proving assessments are unnecessary would prove that they shouldn’t be issued.
b
Scientific assessments should ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ███████████ ███ █████████
Helps build a bridge from the premises to the conclusion. (B), restated, asserts that if a ministry does NOT have a very strong reason to believe that a scientific assessment is accurate, then it should not issue that assessment. The premises give us reason to think that the Ministry of Health is at risk of producing inaccurate assessments, just as the Ministry of Environment did before. So we have reason to believe that the Ministry of Health doesn’t have “very strong reason” to think its assessments will be accurate. (B), then, allows us conclude that those assessments shouldn’t be issued.
c
Individuals and organizations ██████ ███ ████████ █████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████████ ████████████
(C) is directed toward telling individuals and organizations not to exert political pressure on government ministries. But we’re trying support a claim about what a government ministry should do, not what individuals/organizations should do.
d
A government ministry ██████ █████ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ████████████ ██████ █████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████████████
Leads to the wrong conclusion. (D) allows us to reach a conclusion that a ministry SHOULD issue scientific assessments. But we’re trying to prove that a ministry should NOT issue scientific assessments. (Don’t confuse sufficient conditions and necessary conditions. “If X, then should issue” does not mean “If Not X, then should NOT issue.”)
e
The government ministry ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████ █████████ █████ ████████████
Leads to the wrong conclusion. (D) allows us to reach a conclusion that the government ministry should resist political pressures. But we’re trying to prove that the ministry shouldn’t issue scientific assessments.