Self-study
Plumb-Ace advertises that its plumbers are more qualified than plumbers at any other major plumbing firm in the region because Plumb-Ace plumbers must complete a very difficult certification process. █████████ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that Plumb-Ace’s certification process is not difficult to pass because most people easily pass the written portion of the process.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is a part-to-whole fallacy because, while the written portion of the certification process may be easy, the argument gives no information about the difficulty level of the rest of the process. In other words, it assumes that what is true of the part (the written portion) is also true of the whole (the entire certification process).
11.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ██████ ██ ████ ██
a
treats something that ██ █████████ ██ ████ █ █████████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ████ █████████
We’re not given a necessary condition for the certification process being difficult. The flaw is assuming that the written portion being easy is sufficient to prove that the entire certification process is easy.
b
takes for granted ████ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ █████████████ ███████
The argument makes no claim as to whether any plumbers are qualified or not; the conclusion is simply that the certification process is not difficult.
c
overlooks the possibility ████ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ █████████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ████████
This is irrelevant. The conclusion is simply that Plumb-Ace’s process is not difficult to pass. It doesn’t matter if other processes are even less difficult.
d
infers that a █████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ████ █████
The argument doesn’t cite Plumb-Ace’s lack of evidence for their claim, but instead cites evidence that the written portion of their process is easy to pass. The flaw is assuming that this speaks to the difficulty level of the entire process.
e
presumes that since ███ ████ ██ █ █████ █████ █ ███████ ███████████████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ ██████████████ ██ ████
This describes the part-to-whole fallacy. The author only offers evidence that the written portion of the certification process is not difficult, yet claims that this is true of the entire process.