Self-study
Support Most of the employees of the Compujack Corporation are computer programmers. █████ ████ ████████ ███████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ████ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██████ ████ ██████████
Method of Reasoning
The argument presents a “most” statement (most employees of Compujack Corporation are computer programmers), connects it to another “most” statement (most computer programmers receive excellent salaries from their employers), and then draws a “some” statement as a conclusion (at least one Compujack employee must receive an excellent salary from Compujack).
Identify and Describe Flaw
This argument is flawed because it employs an invalid argument form. A “most” statement linked to another “most” statement does not allow you to draw a “some” statement from the first link to the last link (as shown in the diagram above). Just because most employees of Compujack Corporation are computer programmers and most computer programmers receive excellent salaries from their employers, that doesn’t necessarily mean that any Compujack employee receives an excellent salary from Compujack.
24.
Which one of the following █████████ ████████ █ ██████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
Most gardeners are ██████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██ █ ██████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████
The argument presents a “most” statement (most of Molly’s classmates are gardeners), connects it to another most statement (most gardeners are people with a great deal of patience), and then draws a “some” statement as a conclusion (at least one of Molly’s classmates must be a person with a great deal of patience). This commits the same flaw as the stimulus of erroneously purporting that a “most” statement linked to another “most” statement allows you to infer a “some” statement.
b
Most of Molly's ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████
No flaw. We know most of Molly’s classmates are gardeners and most gardeners are people with a great deal of patience. Knowing this information, it’s entirely possible that some of Molly’s classmates could be people with a great deal of patience.
c
Most gardeners are ██████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██ █ ████████ ████ ██ █ ██████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████
Wrong flaw. (C) presents a “most” statement (most of Molly’s classmates are gardeners), connects it to another most statement (most gardeners are people with a great deal of patience), then concludes that one of Molly’s classmates who is a gardener must be a person with a great deal of patience. However, we have no idea if any of Molly’s gardener classmates have a great deal of patience. Though Molly has gardener classmates and most gardeners have a great deal of patience, we don’t know if that applies to any of Molly’s gardener classmates. The stimulus, meanwhile, draws no conclusion about a Compujack employee who is, specifically, a computer programmer. It only draws a conclusion about a Compujack employee more generally.
d
Most gardeners are ██████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ █ ██████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████
Wrong flaw. While most gardeners have a great deal of patience, and most of Molly’s gardening classmates are women, you can’t infer that at least one of Molly’s female classmates has a great deal of patience. It’s possible that none of her female classmates have a great deal of patience. The stimulus, on the other hand, errs because it links two “most” statements and, as a result, erroneously infers a “some” statement.
e
Most of Molly's ██████████ ███ █████████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ █ ████████ ████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████████
No flaw. If most of Molly’s classmates are gardeners with a great deal of patience and most of her classmates are women, at least one of Molly’s female classmates must be a gardener with a great deal of patience. There has to be at least some overlap between the two groups.