Self-study
Brian: Support I used to eat cheeseburgers from fast-food restaurants almost every day. ███ ████ █ ████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ██ █ ███████ ██████ █████████████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ █ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that eating bread and meat in the same meal is unhealthy. This is based on the fact that after he stopped eating cheeseburgers from fast-food restaurants every day, and instead switched to a diet of lean meats, fruits, and vegetables, he started to have a lower cholesterol level and blood pressure.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the combination of bread and meat in the same meal was the cause of his higher levels of cholesterol and blood pressure before switching his diet. This overlooks the possibility that the true cause was eating meals from fast-food restaurants every day. Perhaps if he had eaten bread and meat in the same meal, but the meal was from places besides fast-food restaurants, he wouldn’t have suffered from higher cholesterol and blood pressure.
2.
The reasoning in Brian's argument ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████████
a
treats a statement ██ ███████████ ████ ██████ ███████ █ ██████████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██
The author doesn’t assume that eating bread and meat in the same meal interferes with digestion simply because experts have said it does. The author’s conclusion is based on his own experience after switching his diet.
b
draws a conclusion ████ ██████ ████████ █ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ██
(B) describes circular reasoning. The author’s conclusion is not a restatement of any of the premises. The premises concern a description of the author’s diet and what he experienced after switching his diet.
c
treats a condition ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ██ █ █████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████
(C) describes a confusion of sufficient and necessary condition. The argument doesn’t present any condition that “must occur” in order for an effect to occur. There are no necessary conditions presented.
d
concludes that one ████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ███████████
The author concludes that one part of a change (bread and meat in the same meal) was responsible for the author’s lower cholesterol and blood pressure. But this ignores the possibility that the switch from fast-food was responsible.
e
concludes that making █ ███████ ██████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████
The author’s conclusion is not based on a claim that refraining from eating meat and bread in the same meal improves health for most people.