Logical Reasoning

PT114 · S1 · Q1 Physician: In itself, exercise does

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Physician: In itself, exercise does not cause heart attacks; rather, a sudden increase in an exercise regimen can be a cause.

Conclusion

The new health program will lead to an increased risk of heart disease among employees.

Evidence

A sudden increase in exercise can cause a heart attack. When anyone suddenly increases their amount of exercise, they increase their risk of heart attack.

Evaluation

When we see the Conclusion is about "this new health program will lead to X", we would often see a premise that says , and then we would know that the author is assuming that "Y leads to X".

In this case, though, we've been given nothing in the evidence about what the new health program will do. Instead we're being given the "Y leads to X", and we'll need to assume that "the new health program will lead to Y".

To say the same thing conditionally, proving the conclusion means creating this logic train: new health ---------------------→ increased program risk of HD

The evidence gives us this part of the train: sudden ----→ increased increase risk of HD

Our answer needs to give us the missing part: new health --→ sudden program increase

Goal

Look for an answer saying that the new health program will lead to some of the employees of the company suddenly increasing their exercise.

1.

The conclusion drawn by the physician follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

  1. Correct

    Employees will abruptly increase their

    Why this is right

    If the new program triggers sudden increase of exercise, and sudden increase of exercise increases anyone's risk of heart disease, then the new program will result in higher risk of heart disease.

    Skill tested: Sufficient Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    90% picked this

  2. The exercises involved in the

    Helps But Doesn't Prove

    Since our missing link is that the new program will result in a sudden increase in exercise for employees, it helps to hear that the exercises are more strenuous than the old health program, but that by no means guarantees that employees will be having a sudden increase in exercise.

    4% picked this

  3. The new health program will

    Helps But Doesn't Prove

    Similarly to (B), this nudges us towards the possibility that the new health program will cause a sudden increase in exercise for some employees, but it doesn't guarantee it. What if all the employees are already exercising regularly?

    2% picked this

  4. The new health program constitutes

    Word Blender

    We only care if the new health program will constitute a sudden change (increase) in the employees' exercise. Telling us that it's a sudden shift in company policy doesn't guarantee it's a sudden increase in employees' exercising.

    1% picked this

  5. All employees, no matter what

    Helps But Doesn't Prove

    The more employees who are enrolled, the more things they have to do, the more strenuous those things are, the closer we come to knowing that this program will cause a sudden increase in their exercise. But none of this language guarantees that, since we don't know if these employees were already all doing regular, strenuous exercise. On Sufficient Assumption, we need language that perfectly locks in with the Premises / Conclusion.

    4% picked this

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