Self-study
Company president: Support Almost every really successful product introduced in the last ten years has been launched by a massive television advertising campaign. ██ ███ █████ █ ███████ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████████
Method of Reasoning
The author begins with a set relationship: most members of one set (highly successful products) also belong to another set (products launched through a massive advertising campaign). The author concludes that because a certain thing (the Vegetaste Burger) is a member of the second set, it probably belongs to the first set as well.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This author makes a mistake in the use of the “most” relationship between the two sets. The “most” relationship is a one-way street—if you state that most of one set belongs to a second set, you cannot conclude that most of the second set also belongs to the first. This is because we have no idea how many members of our second set (products launched by massive ad campaigns) belong to the first set (really successful products). It’s possible that most products launched through massive ad campaigns are actually failures, and only a few of these ultimately prove to be successful. Knowing that the Vegetaste Burger is being launched by a massive ad campaign tells us nothing about the likelihood of its success.
23.
The flawed nature of the ███████ ███████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████
a
the president of ██████ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ████████ ████████████ █████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████████ █████████ ███ █ █████ ██████
Wrong flaw. This answer choice does not argue that, because most of one set belongs to a second set, most of the second set also belongs to the first, as the stimulus did. Instead, its flaw comes from assuming that because one set (offices at headquarters) mostly belongs to a second set (small offices), something outside the second set (a large office) could not also belong to the first set. It’s possible that the president’s office is at headquarters, and is in the minority of its offices that are not small.
b
Donna has at █████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ █ ████████ ███████████ █████ ██████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███████████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ █████████
Wrong flaw. This flaw does not conclude that because most of one set is included in a second set, that most of the second set must also be in the first, as the stimulus did. Instead, it is flawed because it provides no indication that the individuals likely to be hired for this job possess the same qualifications as those currently working in it. It’s possible that most programmers at Coderight have ten years of experience because they were hired that long ago, and Donna is being considered for an entry-level position.
c
almost all of ██████ █████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ █████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██████
Wrong flaw. This flaw errs in its use of the “most” relationship, but in a different way than the stimulus. The relationship that Acme Workers -most→ Factory Workers -most→ Oppose Merger is not a valid argument form. The stimulus does not use this invalid argument form; rather, it erroneously uses a “most” relationship to state that because most of one set belongs to a second set, most of that second set also belongs to the first.
d
Robinson will probably ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ █████ ██████ █████ ███ ██ ████████ ████████ ██████████ ███ █ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ █ █████
This answer choice misuses the “most” relationship between the two sets. We have no idea how many members of the second set (people with PhDs) belong to the first set (university presidents). Even though most university presidents have had PhDs, it’s possible that most people with PhDs will never become president of this university. Knowing that Robinson has a PhD tells us nothing about the likelihood of him becoming university president.
e
the novel Safekeeping ████ ████████ ████ █ ██████ ███ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██████ █████ ██████ █████ █████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██████████
Wrong flaw. This flaw errs in its use of the “most” relationship, but in a different way than the stimulus. The relationship that Safekeeping → Published by Peninsula -most→ Profitable is not a valid argument form. The stimulus does not use this invalid argument form; rather, it erroneously uses a “most” relationship to state that because most of one set belongs to a second set, most of that second set also belongs to the first.