Self-study
Scientist: Some critics of public funding for this research project have maintained that only if it can be indicated how the public will benefit from the project is continued public funding for it justified. ██ ███ ███████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████████
Summary
The stimulus can be diagrammed as follows:
Notable Valid Inferences
The inference the stimulus is designed to produce is “The critics are wrong about the claim that indicating how the public will benefit is necessary for the public funding to be justified.” In other words, indicating public benefit is NOT required to justify public funding for the project.
This inference is warranted because if the critics were right, there would not be tremendous public support. But there is tremendous public support. This triggers the contrapositive and proves the critics are wrong.
20.
If the scientist's claims are █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ██ █████
a
The benefits derived ████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████
Could be false. We know indicating the benefits isn’t required for justification. That doesn’t mean they are irrelevant. Something can be highly relevant, even if it’s not required.
b
Continued public funding ███ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████████
Could be false. All we know is that the indication of how the public will benefit is not a requirement for justification. That doesn’t mean the project is actually justified. We don’t know whether it’s justified.
c
Public support for ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██ ██ ██████████
Could be false. We don’t know whether public support is the “surest” indication of justification. All we know is that there is public support, and that this shows the critics are wrong. That doesn’t mean the project is justified or that support indicates justification.
d
There is tremendous ██████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
Could be false. We have no idea why there is tremendous public support. Nothing in the stimulus indicates the reason there exists such support.
e
That a public ███████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ ███ █ ███████████ ███ ███ █████████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ █████████ ██████ ████████
Must be true. If the critics were right, there wouldn’t be tremendous public support. But there is tremendous public support. So the critics are wrong.