PT108.S2.Q21

PrepTest 108 - Section 2 - Question 21

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Support The experts who now assure us that genetically engineered plants are harmless are the same experts who claimed that introducing non-native plants into the wild was a good idea. ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██████ █ ███████ ████████ ███ ██ ██████ █████████ █████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ████ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████████

Method of Reasoning

The author concludes that genetically engineered plants will be harmful. His reasoning is that the experts now promoting genetically engineered plants were previously mistaken about non-native plants, which have turned out to be harmful.

Identify and Describe Flaw

This is the cookie-cutter ad hominem flaw. The author attacks an argument by trying to discredit its proponents. But this doesn’t tell us anything about the merits of the argument itself. Even if the experts were wrong about a different subject previously, perhaps genetically engineered plants are actually harmless.

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21.

The flawed reasoning in which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████

a

The same people ███ ████████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████

b

The film critics ███ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ █ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████

c

The economists who ████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ █████

d

Children who beg ███ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ █████ █ ████████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████████ █████

e

The population experts ███ ███ ██████████ █████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███████████ █████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███████ █████████ █████

Confirm action

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