Self-study
Support The student body at this university takes courses in a wide range of disciplines. ██████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ ████████████
Method of Reasoning
The author concludes that, because a description (taking a wide range of courses) applies to a group (the student body) as a whole, it must apply to an individual member (Miriam).
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of attributing properties of a whole to each individual part. The student body as a whole may take a wide range of classes, but that doesn’t mean every individual student does. Miriam could easily be a very specialized student, even if the university offers a diverse array of classes.
6.
Which one of the following █████████ ████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
The students at ████ ██████ ████ ████████████ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ██ █████ ████████████
This is a valid argument, unlike the stimulus. If all students at this school take math, and Miguel is a student at this school, he must take math. (A) relies on a property of the group that is defined as a property of all the individuals in it. By contrast, the stimulus commits the cookie-cutter flaw of attributing properties of a whole to each individual part.
b
The editorial board ██ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███████
(B) concludes that, because a description (writing on many issues) applies to a group (the journal) as a whole, it must apply to an individual member (Louise). But, just because the journal as a whole covers many issues, it doesn’t mean each individual contributor has to. This is the same cookie-cutter flaw as the stimulus: attributing properties of a whole to each individual part.
c
The component parts ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ ██ ██ ██████
This is a valid argument, unlike the stimulus. The property (heaviness) of an individual part in this case also applies to the group as a whole. By contrast, the stimulus commits the cookie-cutter flaw of attributing properties of a whole to each individual part.
d
All older automobiles ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████
This is the wrong flaw. (D) takes a conditional relationship and erroneously negates it. By contrast, the stimulus commits the cookie-cutter flaw of attributing properties of a whole to each individual part.
e
The individual cells ██ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ █ █████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████
This is the wrong error. (E) looks at a property each individual part has, and mistakenly assumes it applies to the whole. By contrast, the stimulus looks at a property the whole has, and erroneously assumes it applies to each individual part.