Logical Reasoning

PT127 · S2 · Q25 Farmer: In the long run

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Farmer: In the long run, it is counterproductive for farmers to use insecticides.

Conclusion

In the long run, it is counterproductive for farmers to use insecticides.

Evidence

Farmers have to use greater and greater amounts of costly insecticides to control insect pests, since insects' resistance to insecticides increases with insecticide use.

Evaluate

Whenever we do Role or Main Conclusion, we prime our brains for the possibility of First Sentence Conclusions and Pivot/Rebuttal conclusions.

This first sentence sounds like advice, so it seems like an author opinion, and thus could be our conclusion. Does the paragraph go on to support this first claim?

Yes the second sentence gives a reason why it's bad in the long run to use insecticide: you have to use more and more, in the long run, and it's very costly.

Goal

Since they're asking us about the final claim, we'd say it's part of the Support / Evidence.

(Since the first half of the final sentence starts with the word Because, we might be thinking the second half has to be a conclusion. But the words "since / because" can also be used in a causal context. When we say, "Because I have the flu, I have chills", that isn't a Premise/Conclusion relationship; it's a Cause/Effect relationship. That's what is happening in this final sentence as well).

25.

Which one of the following most accurately describes the role played in the farmer's argument by the proposition that farmers have to use greater and greater amounts of costly insecticides to control insect pests?

  1. It is the argument's main

    Wrong Role

    The main conclusion is the first claim.

    2% picked this

  2. Correct

    It is a claim for

    Why this is right

    The Because half of the last sentence is the causal explanation for the second half of the last sentence (the claim we're being asked about). And this idea that "in the long run, you have to use more and more costly pesticides", is what directly supports the conclusion in the first sentence that "in the long run it's counterproductive to use pesticides".

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

    76% picked this

  3. It is the argument's only

    Wrong Role

    This would mean that it's the main conclusion, which is the first sentence.

    1% picked this

  4. It is a claim that

    Wrong Role

    If anything, this answer would describe the 2nd of the 3 claims in the paragraph, the Because claim. The claim we're asked about provides direct support for the conclusion in the first sentence.

    15% picked this

  5. It identifies a phenomenon for

    Contradiction

    The claim is supported by the premise with a causal explanation, but the conclusion does not provide a causal explanation of the claim. This answer would apply to an Explain Curious Fact argument, like, "People who take LSAT are more likely than others to argue with people. Thus, the LSAT must make people more argumentative". This answer would be describing the first sentence of such an argument.

    6% picked this

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