Logical Reasoning

PT120 · S3 · Q18 North Americans who travel to

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North Americans who travel to Europe for the first time should include significant time in Italy on their itinerary.

Conclusion (should = opinion)

If a North American is going to Europe for the first time, they should plan to spend significant time in Italy.

Evidence

To develop an appreciation of a continent that goes beyond merely accumulating impressions, you should get thorough knowledge of at least one country.

And Italy seems to be easier to get to know than other European countries.

Evaluate

We need to move this into a more abstract realm, so let's try to remove all the specific nouns.

C: If you're going to do X for the first time, spend a good chunk of time on Y.

P1: Rather than just skimming the surface of several things, you should get deep knowledge of at least one thing.

P2: Y is very conducive to getting deep knowledge.

Goal

Let's find the answer we can best match up with that implicit principle.

18.

Which one of the following best illustrates the principle illustrated by the argument above?

  1. A person who wants to

    Bad Premise Match

    The conclusions match decently: Someone learning Europe should study Italy Someone learning piano should study classical But then the first premise is totally opposite: Italy is easier to get to know than other countries vs. classical is more difficult than popular music

    10% picked this

  2. To overcome a fear of

    Bad Match

    The only real similarity here is that the argument is giving advice. But this answer involves a solution to a problem, a way to overcome an obstacle. There aren't really even premises to this "argument"; we would have to intuit the supporting ideas, like - shallow water / trusted friend / good swimmer all make a scary situation less scary And in general, the recommendation to be in shallow water is a mismatch for the original argument, which encouraged depth not superficial impressions.

    6% picked this

  3. Correct

    Edith Wharton is the most

    Why this is right

    We can match conclusions: if you're introducing yourself to Europe, you should emphasize Italy vs. if you're introducing yourself to US Lit, you should emphasize Edith And we can match premises decently: Italy is easier to get to know than other Euro countries vs. Edith is the most accessible of US Lit writers You should acquire a thorough knowledge of at least one country vs. You should emphasize Edith while also studying others That last premise is probably the hardest one to accept as a good match, but overall this answer is still "best available".

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

    71% picked this

  4. One can appreciate Taiko-drumming only

    Bad Match

    The crux of this argument is that you should experience something in person to appreciate it fully, because a full appreciation requires knowing X, and it's implied that you'd only know X in person. This principle has nothing to do with the Europe example. Someone traveling to Europe for the first time is definitely seeing stuff in person. The advice in the original argument is not about whether to see stuff in person; it's about which stuff to see and for how long.

    10% picked this

  5. One should travel through North

    Topic-Trap Bad Conclusion Match

    We should be immediately unnerved by the fact that this argument is also about travel and also about North America. Those are the sort of superficial topic-similarities they use to bait us into incorrect answers. This conclusion is saying "you should do X rather than Y", and the evidence is also about comparing X to Y. The original argument is not saying some head-to-head comparison like, "You should go to Italy rather than Germany. After all, Italy has good food just like Germany, but it also has antiquities that date back 2000 years."

    4% picked this

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