Necessary Assumption Confusion

jjoushlyn

Hello,

Im just a little confused about necessary assumptions when using the negation test. We've been taught that if the answer choice, negated, would make the arguement not make sense or destroy it. My confusion is to me the argument is the premise and the conclusion. So am i looking for it to destroy the support between the conclusion and the argument or am i just looking for it to make the conclusion less likely to happen? Or am I looking for an assumption that would not support the relationship between the conclusion and the premises?

cpachec4

I need help with this as well!

BlueRiceCake

If you negate a necessary answer choice, the argument should be completely destroyed(assuming it's the right answer).

If the original conclusion didn't give a definitive stance on a position but instead chose to say that a certain outcome is merely likely to happen, then the negation of a necessary assumption might simply be proving that the outcome is less likely than stated. I can see arguments with causation errors doing this