Self-study
Commentator: Conclusion The worldwide oil crisis of 1973 was not due to any real shortage of oil, but was the result of collusion between international oil companies and oil-producing countries to artificially restrict the supply of oil in order to profit from higher prices. ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █████████████ ██████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that the oil crisis of 1973 was due to collusion between oil companies and oil-producing countries. This is based on the fact that after 1973, the profits of oil companies increased, and the incomes of oil-producing companies also increased.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that because oil companies and oil-producing countries benefited from the oil crisis, that they must have played a role in causing the oil crisis. This overlooks the possibility that they simply benefited from an event that they did not cause.
13.
The reasoning in the commentator's ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
a
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ █ █████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ████ █████
This possibility shows why the conclusion doesn’t follow from the premises. If something can benefit from an event without helping to cause it, then the fact certain companies and countries benefited from the oil crisis does not prove that they caused it.
b
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ █████████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██████
If other parties benefited, too, that doesn’t undermine the argument’s reasoning. The author might believe those other parties were also contributory factors in the oil crisis of 1973.
c
rests on using ███ ████ ████████ ██ ██ █████████ ███
The word “profit” is not used to mean two different things. “Profit” is used to mean financial gain.
d
fails to establish ████ █████ ███ █ █████████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████
There is no need to establish that there was a surplus in order to show that certain parties caused a reduction in available oil later.
e
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██████████████ ███ ██ ████████ ███████
The author doesn’t overlook this possibility. In fact, the author’s conclusion assumes that the increased profits and income of oil companies and oil-producing countries are causally related to each other.