Logical Reasoning

PT132 · S4 · Q2 To discover what percentage

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To discover what percentage of teenagers believe in telekinesis-the psychic ability to move objects without physically touching them-a recent survey asked a representative sample of teenagers whether they agreed with the following statement: "A person's thoughts can influence the movement of physical objects."

Conclusion

The survey's responses are also ambiguous.

Evidence (because)

The statement the survey asked about was ambiguous.

Evaluate

This argument is recycling the same trait in its premise and its conclusion.

Because the statement the survey asked about was ambiguous, the responses to the survey will be ambiguous.

Goal

It seems like the author's thinking is guided by some assumption like,

2.

The reasoning above conforms most closely to which one of the following general propositions?

  1. Uncontroversial statements are useless in

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: useless Bad Evidence / Conclusion Match The author is concluding that the survey's responses are ambiguous, which is much stronger and not quite the same as concluding that the statement asked about was useless.

    2% picked this

  2. Every statement is amenable to

    Bad Evidence Match

    If we're saying that "every statement is ambiguous (open to several interpretations)", then that sort of implies that any responses to any survey that consist of statements would be ambiguous. So in a sense this answer still matches what the conclusion is getting at. But the premise wasn't saying every statement is ambiguous, just that the one the researchers used in their survey was ambiguous. If a principle is too broad or too strong, then we can't fairly say it conformed to (matched) the reasoning.

    3% picked this

  3. Responses to surveys are always

    Illegal Negation

    This answer choice is a "flipped lightswitch" trap answer of the author's actual reasoning (negated logic). This answer is saying. If ... Then ... question is responses are not ambiguous not ambiguous The argument was saying If ... Then ... question is responses are ambiguous ambiguous

    4% picked this

  4. Correct

    Responses people give to poorly

    Why this is right

    This is far from perfect, but it seems to be the best available. It's making a soft move like this, If ... Then .. question is responses poorly phrased likely ambiguous That's our best match for the argument, If ... Then ... question is responses are ambiguous ambiguous

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

    90% picked this

  5. Statements about psychic phenomena can

    Bad Conclusion Match

    This answer makes it seem like the conclusion is "Therefore, the statement can be interpreted naturalistically. But the conclusion was, "Therefore, the responses to the statement will be ambiguous".

    2% picked this

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