Support Everyone who is a gourmet cook enjoys a wide variety of foods and spices. █████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ █ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███ █ ███████ █████
The argument proceeds by conditional reasoning. Since we'll be looking for a parallel argument, it's important that we fully understand the structure of the stimulus. One way to do so is to diagram out the argument.
P1. gourmet cook → enjoys many foods and spices
P2. enjoys many foods and spices → /prefers bland foods
P1 + P2. gourmet cook → enjoys many foods and spices → /prefers bland foods
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C. prefers bland foods → /gourmet cook
Now we can see how the argument is structured, and look for a match. We want to find an argument which, like the stimulus, sets us two conditional premises which chain together. The conclusion of the argument should then reflect the contrapositive of the collapsed conditional chain. In diagram form, it should look like this:
P1. A → B
P2. B → /C
P1 + P2. A → B → /C
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C. C → /A
The pattern of reasoning displayed ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
All of the █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ██ █ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ██ █ ████ ███████ ██ ████████
P1. Huang Collection → auction next week
P2. auction next week → variety of artists
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C. Huang Collection → variety of artists
Not only does (A) not follow the same pattern as the stimulus—its conclusion is just the collapsed chain, not its contrapositive—but (A) is not a valid argument at all. This is because it improperly treats a property of all the paintings to be auctioned as necessarily being a property of a subset of these paintings, those in the Huang Collection.
All of the █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████
P1. Huang Collection → abstract
P2. abstract → /auction next week
P1 + P2. Huang Collection → abstract → /auction next week
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C. auction next week → /Huang Collection
(B) parallels the form of the stimulus. Like the stimulus, it starts with two conditional premises that chain together. It then collapses the chain and takes the contrapositive as a conclusion.
All of the █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██ ████
P1. Huang Collection → superb artwork
P2. Huang Collection → /Roué
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C. Roué → /superb work of art
We can immediately see that (C)'s conditional premises don't chain together, which already makes it an incorrect parallel to the stimulus. Beyond this, (C) isn't a valid argument. It takes two necessary conditions flowing from the same sufficient condition, and invalidly treats those necessary conditions as though they have an independent conditional relationship.
Every postimpressionist painting ████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███████████
P1. Huang Collectionpostimpressionist painting → auction next week
P2. Huang Collectionpop art painting → /auction next week
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C. auction next weekpop art painting → /Huang Collection
We can immediately see that (D)'s premises don't chain together, making it not a match with the stimulus. Furthermore, only one of (D)'s premises is actually relevant to the conclusion; the status of the collection's postimpressionist paintings doesn't play a role at all.
Every painting from ███ █████ ██████████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ █ █████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █ █████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ █████
P1. Huang Collectionauction next week → major artwork
P2. major artwork → /price reflects value
P1 + P2. Huang Collectionauction next week → major artwork → /price reflects value
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C. auction next week → /price reflects value
We can see that (E) doesn't match the stimulus, because its conclusion doesn't actually reflect the conditional chain formed by its premises. The premises establish that the prices of Huang Collection pieces auctioned next week will fail to reflect their value. The conclusion improperly treats this as being true of all pieces auctioned next week.
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