“Addiction” has been defined as

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: never29% picked this

   cancer patients never abuse

   This author certainly hasn't committed herself to the extreme view that zero cancer patients ever abuse morphine. She says "cancer patients can (sometimes) be dependent even though they're not abusing it."

   29%
2. B

   Too Strong: often16% picked this

   cancer patients often become dependent on

   The author just said that "cancer patients can become dependent on morphine". She didn't say it often happens, and she doesn't need to assume it often happens. For her purposes, she just needs it to be true that "if a cancer patient were dependent on morphine but not abusing it, that patient should be considered to be addicted to morphine."

   16%
3. C

   Correct41% picked this

   cancer patients who are dependent on morphine are addicted

   Why this is right

   In order to prove that this definition of addiction is incorrect, she is trying to show us an example where the definition wouldn't apply even though the term addiction should apply. One of her examples is "cancer patients who are dependent on morphine, but not abusing it". She has established that the definition would not apply to them, but in order for that to mean anything, she also needs to establish that these people are addicted. If we negated this, we'd be saying, "Hey, author -- those cancer patients aren't addicted to morphine. So what does this have to do with anything? You're trying to convince us that this definition of addicted is wrong, and you're talking about people who aren't addicted to something. Who cares that this definition of addiction doesn't apply to these cancer patients. Since they're not addicted, it shouldn't apply to them." If the negation of an answer becomes an objection, then we know the answer was telling us a Necessary Assumption.

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

   41%
4. D

   Opposite, if anything5% picked this

   cancer patients who abuse a drug are dependent

   She literally says "a person can abuse a drug without being dependent on it", so we can't say she's assuming that people who abuse a drug are dependent on it.

   5%
5. E

   Opposite9% picked this

   cancer patients cannot depend on morphine without

   She says the opposite of this. She says that cancer patients can be dependent on morphine, but this it not abusing it.

   9%