Logical Reasoning

PT129 · S3 · Q17 Consumer: If you buy a watch

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Consumer: If you buy a watch at a department store and use it only in the way it was intended to be used, but the watch stops working the next day, then the department store will refund your money.

Conclusion

According to the department store's standard, B's Store should give me a refund for my watch.

Evidence

If you buy a watch at a department store and use it only as intended, but it stops working the next day, the department store will refund your money. I bought a watch from B's Store and it stopped working the next day.

B's Store isn't a department store, but let's assume it's adopting this very reasonable standard.

Evaluation

Whenever we see conditional logic show up, we should think about what the trigger and consequence are (diagramming it if desired):

Buy Watch and Use Only as Intended and Stops Next Day → Refund

The author has established that he bought the watch and it stopped working the next day, but he never established that he used it only as intended.

Goal

The most likely answer would be one that spells out the missing fact from the trigger of that conditional rule. Look for something like, "he used the watch only as intended".

17.

The consumer's argument relies on the assumption that

  1. one should not sell something

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: conditional Out of Scope: "should not sell" This says, "If you don't expect something to function they way it was designed to, then you shouldn't sell it." This doesn't match up well at all with the argument. Our author is arguing, "If you sold me something that stopped functioning the next day, then you should give me a refund."

    1% picked this

  2. a watch bought at a

    Out of Scope Comparison

    Out of Scope Comparison: product life Too Strong: about same length of time The author isn't assuming anything about a quality / endurance comparison between department stores and Bingham's Jewelry store. The only comparison being assumed is that it would be reasonable to apply the department store's refund policy to Bingham's Jewelry store.

    13% picked this

  3. a seller should refund the

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: conditional Out of Scope: purchaser's expectations We don't know if the author thinks that in every single case that a consumer had different expectations for how a product would perform that the seller should refund the money. The problem with the watch wasn't a gap between expectations and reality with how the product would perform. The product performed as the consumer expected, but then it stopped working the next day. To make this better match the argument, we would need to tweak the end of this answer choice to read, "... if the product stops performing the way the product is intended to perform".

    13% picked this

  4. Correct

    the consumer did not use

    Why this is right

    This just establishes that the consumer used the watch only as it was intended to be used, completing the other idea in the trigger of the rule that "if bought at store and used only as intended and watch stops working next day, then store will refund". If we negated this, it would turn into a big objection: "They shouldn't give you a refund. You did use the watch in a way contrary to the way it was intended to be used."

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

    72% picked this

  5. the watch that was purchased

    Irrelevant Distinction: "new vs old"

    The rule cited has nothing to do with new vs. used watches. It just says "if you buy a watch," so we have no reason to think the author is assuming anything specific about new vs. used watches.

    0% picked this

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