Self-study
Doctor: Angiotensinogen is a protein in human blood. ██████████ ███ ██████ █ ████████ ███████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ █ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ █ ████ ██ █ █████ ██ ████ █████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The doctor hypothesizes that disease X causes high blood pressure, because it typically increases angiotensinogen levels, which are linked to higher blood pressure.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of assuming that correlation proves causation. The doctor shows that disease X usually causes higher angiotensinogen levels and that higher angiotensinogen levels are correlated with higher blood pressure. She then jumps to the conclusion that disease X causes high blood pressure. To do this, she must assume that higher angiotensinogen levels actually cause high blood pressure. However, it’s possible that high blood pressure causes higher angiotensinogen levels, or that another factor like smoking or genetics causes both.
18.
The doctor's argument is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
It confuses a █████████ █████████ ███ █ ██████████ ██████████
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing necessary and sufficient conditions. The doctor doesn’t make this mistake; her argument relies on causal logic, not conditional logic.
b
It overlooks the ███████████ ████ ████ ██ █ █████████ ████████ ███████████ ██ █ █████ ███████ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████
The doctor’s argument is flawed because she assumes that angiotensinogen levels cause high blood pressure, not because she overlooks other factors that might counteract the effects of disease X.
c
It illicitly infers, ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ███████████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████
In order to conclude that disease X causes high blood pressure by raising angiotensinogen levels, the doctor must assume that high angiotensinogen levels cause high blood pressure. However, her argument only establishes that the two are correlated.
d
It confuses one ████████████ ███████ █ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████████ ███████ ███ ██████
The only proven causal connection in the argument is that disease X usually causes higher angiotensinogen levels. The doctor doesn’t confuse this by saying that higher angiotensinogen levels cause disease X. Instead, she assumes that they cause high blood pressure.
e
It takes for ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ██████ █ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████████ █████ ██████ █ █████ ███████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The doctor says one phenomenon (disease X) causes a second phenomenon (higher angiotensinogen) and assumes that higher angiotensinogen causes high blood pressure. She then concludes that disease X is the immediate cause of high blood pressure.