Self-study
Support All any reporter knows about the accident is what the press agent has said. ██████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ████ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that some reporter can scoop all of the other reporters. This is based on the following:
All that any reporter knows about the accident is what the press agent said.
If the agent told every reporter everything, then each reporter knows the same amount as every other reporter.
If each reporter knows the same amount as every other reporter, a scoop is not possible.
But, the press agent did not tell every reporter everything.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that if the agent did not tell every reporter everything, that at least one reporter knows more than every other reporter. This assumption is faulty because it’s possible each reporter still knows the same amount as every other reporter, even if the agent withheld some information.
25.
The argument's reasoning is flawed ███████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ████████ █████████
a
The press agent ███ ███ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
This possibility doesn’t show why the reasoning is flawed. One reporter can still know more than all others, even if nobody knows everything. So this doesn’t show why a reporter might not be able to scoop the others.
b
Even if some ████████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ███ █████ █████████
Whether a reporter “needs” to or will scoop others is irrelevant. The argument concerns whether at least one reporter “can,” meaning has the ability to, scoop other reporters. A reporter might have the ability to scoop others, even if they don’t actually scoop the others.
c
Some reporter may ████ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████████
This possibility does not show why the argument is flawed. If one reporter shares something they were told to all other reporters, it’s still possible for one reporter to know more than all the others. So (C) doesn’t show why scooping might not be possible.
d
The press agent ███ ███ ████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ████ █████████████ █████████
This possibility does not show why the argument is flawed. One reporter can still know more than all others, even if that reporter doesn’t know more than the press agent. So (D) doesn’t show why scooping might not be possible.
e
No reporter knows ███ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████ █████████
If this possibility were true, then it’s impossible for one reporter to scoop another, because each reporter would know the same amount as every other reporter. The agent might not have told everything, but the reporters can still end up knowing the same information.