Self-study
Advertisement: Our oat bran cereal is the only one that has printed right on its package all of its claimed health benefits. ███ ██████ ████████████████ █████████ ████ ████████████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ██ ████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████ █████████████████ ██ ██████ ████████████████ ████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ █ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ███████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███
Method of Reasoning
The argument proceeds by making two claims that support each other, without any outside supporting evidence.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This argument features circular reasoning. The claim that the cereal is healthy is only supported by the claim that healthy consumers buy it. The claim that the consumers are healthy is only supported by the claim that they buy healthy cereal. There is no outside evidence given to support either of these claims, so the reasoning is circular.
24.
Which one of the following ███████ █ ██████ █████████████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██████
a
Greeting one's coworkers ████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██████ █████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██████
Doesn’t match the flaw. To be correct, (A) would need to claim that these people are polite because they greet their coworkers. (A) instead provides outside evidence that the people are polite, which is not supported by the information about greeting coworkers, so (A) doesn’t match.
b
This card game ████ ██ ██████████████ ████████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██████████████ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████
The claim that the game is intellectually challenging is supported by the claim that smart people play it. The claim that smart people play it is supported by the claim that the game is intellectually challenging. Since the two statements both support and are supported by each other, this is an example of circular reasoning, which matches the stimulus.
c
When coffee is █████ ███████ █████ █ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████ █████████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ ██████ █████ ██████ █████████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████████████ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █ █████ █████
Doesn’t match the flaw. To be correct, (C) would have to claim that these people had highly developed taste in coffee because they bought Brand Z. It instead provides outside evidence of their developed taste, which is not supported by the information about coffee Z, so (C) doesn’t match.
d
That jacket must ████ ████ ████ ███ █ ████ █████ ███████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███████
Doesn’t match the flaw. To be correct, (D) would need to claim that the people were short because they wore the jacket. It instead provides outside evidence of their height, which is not supported by the information about the jacket, so (D) doesn’t match.
e
This painting is █ ████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ █ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █ ████████
Doesn’t match the flaw. To be correct, (E) would need to claim that their eyesight was poor because they mistook the imitation for the original. It instead provides outside evidence of their poor eyesight, which is not supported by the information about the painting, so (E) doesn’t match.