Self-study
Mayor: Some residents complain that the city has no right to require homeowners to connect to city water services, even though we are doing so in order to ensure public health and safety. ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ ██████ ███ ████ █ █████████ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ █████
Summary
The author concludes that the city has the right to require homeowners to connect to city water services.
Why?
Because the city will charge homeowners a fair market price for the service, and having the homeowners connect to the service will benefit all of the city’s residents.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that if the city charges a fair market price for a service, and requiring homeowners to connect to the service will benefit all the city’s residents, then the city has the right to require homeowners to connect to the service.
13.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████
a
A city has ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██ ███████ █ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██████████
(A) builds a bridge from the premises to the conclusion. We know from the premises that the city will charge a fair price, and that the requirement will benefit all city residents. (A), then, allows us to conclude that the city has the right to require homeowners to connect to city water services.
b
A city should ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ████ █ █████████ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ █████
(B) is close to a reverse of what would strengthen the argument. It tells us what’s necessary (”only if”) in order for it to be appropriate for the city to require homeowners to connect to water services. But that will never allow us to prove that the city should require homeowners to connect to the service. (”A only if B” can NEVER prove that A is true.) Also, the issue is whether the city has the RIGHT to require the connection, not whether it should require the connection.
c
A city has ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████████ █ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ███ ████████
(C) tells us when the city does NOT have the right to do something. But we want to prove that the city DOES have the right to do something. (If you think this answer strengthens you’re confusing sufficient and necessary conditions.)
d
Residents of a ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████
(D) concerns whether residents have the right to complain about something. But the argument concerns whether the city has the right to do something. Whether residents have the right to complain is a separate, irrelevant issue.
e
A city can ████████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ █ █████████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ █████████
(E) doesn’t establish when a city has the right to do something. It tells us the implementing a certain requirement is necessary to increase revenue and becoming a healthier/safer place to live. But it doesn’t tell us that the city has the right to do something.