Logical Reasoning

PT139 · S1 · Q16 Roxanne promised Luke

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Roxanne promised Luke that she would finish their report while he was on vacation; however, the deadline for that report was postponed.

Setup Claims

If you promised a friend that you would meet them for lunch but just before lunch you felt ill, it wouldn't be wrong for you to miss lunch. Your friend wouldn't expect you to be there.

Roxanne promised Luke that she would finish the report while he was on vacation but the deadline got pushed back.

The Blank

Similarly, _______ .

Because of that comparison keyword 'similarly', We know our job is to complete the analogy.

Evaluate

The story about Roxanne / Luke provides the initial ingredients of that if/then principle we were given: - a promise was made - the situation changed

We need think through what the other two parts of the principle would sound like, as applied to the Roxanne and Luke story.

Goal

It should sound like - it would not be wrong to fail to deliver on the promise [of having the report done by vacation's end]. - Luke wouldn't expect Roxanne to finish it by the promised deadline, if the deadline has now been pushed back.

16.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

  1. if Roxanne believes that Luke

    Out of Scope: wrong

    We have no principle that would ever let us conclude that it was wrong to do something. The only principle we have to go off of allows us to conclude that it would be not wrong if Roxanne failed to finish the report as promised.

    2% picked this

  2. it would not be wrong

    Bad Match

    This answer is analogous to saying, "It would not be wrong for the sick person to still show up to lunch, if the other person didn't expect them to be sick." That's not wrong, but it's not conforming to the principle the way the correct answer is. Many of us would probably think that "if my friend doesn't realize I'm sick, then it would be right for me to try to just suck it up and meet them at lunch, even though I'm sick." But the principle we're building off of is more about excusing us for not showing up.

    6% picked this

  3. if Luke would expect Roxanne

    Bad Match

    This answer is analogous to saying, "It the person waiting at lunch still expected the sick person to show up even after learning they were sick, then it would be wrong for the sick person not to show up." The principle we're building off of is more about excusing the sick person for not showing up.

    5% picked this

  4. Correct

    if Luke would not expect

    Why this is right

    This lines up with how we anticipated they would complete the analogy: - it would not be wrong for Roxanne to fail to deliver on the promise [of having the report done by vacation's end]. - Luke wouldn't expect Roxanne to finish it by the promised deadline, if the deadline has now been pushed back. Here, they just combined that into a conditional: If the circumstances of a pushed-back deadline mean that Luke no longer expects Roxanne to finish by the end of his vacation, then it would not be wrong if Roxanne fails to finish. This answer, if we applied it to the subject matter of the principle, would sound like this: If your friend would not expect you to attend the promised lunch under the circumstances (of your being sick), then it would not be wrong for you to miss the lunch.

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

    84% picked this

  5. Luke would not expect Roxanne

    Out of Scope: wrong

    We have no principle that would ever let us conclude that it was wrong to do something. The only principle we have to go off of allows us to conclude that it would be not wrong if Roxanne failed to finish the report as promised. This answer, as applied to the original principle, would sound like, "Your friend would not expect you to attend the lunch, and it would be wrong if you did attend lunch."

    3% picked this

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