Logical Reasoning

PT138 · S3 · Q22 Radio producer: Our failure

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Radio producer: Our failure to attract new listeners over the past several years has forced us to choose between devoting some airtime to other, more popular genres of music, and sticking with classical music that appeals only to our small but loyal audience.

Premise

Our failure to attract new listeners over the past several years has forced us to choose between devoting some airtime to other, more popular genres of music, and sticking with classical music that appeals only to our small but loyal audience.

Premise

This audience, however loyal, did not generate enough advertising revenue for us to pay our bills.

Intermediate Conclusion

So if we appeal to them alone, our station risks going out of business.

Premise

We should not take that risk.

Main Conclusion

We should, therefore, devote some airtime to other, more popular genres of music.

Evaluate

This argument limits the options to two, presents evidence that one option possesses an unacceptable risk, and then advocates for the other option. The problem with this being that the argument never addressed whether the other option is just as likely to possess the unacceptable risk.

22.

Which one of the following arguments is most similar in its pattern of reasoning to that used by the radio producer?

  1. We should either buy blinds

    Wrong Conclusion

    The conclusion of this argument is an if/then relationship. The conclusion of the argument in the stimulus is not. For the living room windows, we can make curtains or valances or both. Blinds would be very expensive to purchase. Thus, if cost is our greatest concern, we should make curtains. This argument advocates for one of two options by providing evidence that the other option has a negative consequence that is unacceptable.

    15% picked this

  2. Correct

    We should either make curtains

    Why this is right

    This argument limits the options to two, presents evidence that one option possesses an unacceptable consequence, and then advocates for the other option. The problem with this being that the argument never addressed whether the other option is just as likely to possess the unacceptable consequence. We should either make curtains for the windows or buy blinds. Since the windows are not standard sizes. So if we buy blinds we will have to special order them. We do not have time to wait for special orders. We should make the curtains.

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

    51% picked this

  3. For the living room windows,

    Wrong Premise

    The evidence in this argument provides support one of the options and against the other option. The argument in the stimulus did not contain evidence agains the other option. For the living room windows, we can make curtains or valances or both. We want to have privacy; and while curtains provide privacy, valances do not. So we should make curtains but not valances.

    6% picked this

  4. Since we have very little

    Wrong Conclusion

    The conclusion of this argument does not advocate one of the two options presented in the evidence. We have very little fabric. We will have to either buy more, or make valances instead of curtains. If we use this fabric to make valances, then we will have to buy blinds. It would be hard to buy fabric that matches what we already have. We should buy blinds.

    17% picked this

  5. We should either buy blinds

    Wrong Conclusion

    The conclusion of this argument is an if/then relationship. The conclusion of the argument in the stimulus is not. We should either buy blinds or make curtains for the windows. If we buy blinds but do not make valances, the windows will look bare. We should not have bare windows. So if we do not make the curtains, we should make the valances.

    10% picked this

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