Pediatrician: Swollen tonsils give

Answer choices

1. A

   Wrong Flaw1% picked this

   relies on an inappropriate appeal to

   This is the famous Inappropriate Appeal flaw, but this argument didn't rely on a dubious expert.

   1%
2. B

   Wrong Flaw5% picked this

   relies on an assumption that is tantamount to assuming that the

   This describes the famous Circular Reasoning flaw, in which the evidence restates the conclusion or assumes the conclusion is true. But we're not critiquing this argument by saying that the author's evidence involves repeating or already-believing the conclusion. We're saying the author only managed to prove that preemptively removing tonsils would make children less likely to experience breathing problems during sleep; she didn't prove that kids would never have breathing problems. The author relies on the assumption that "swollen tonsils are the only possible source of breathing problems", and that does not match her conclusion. (tantamount = essentially the same as) I could say, "Asking Jill to move in with me was tantamount to proposing that she marry me."

   5%
3. C

   Wrong Flaw12% picked this

   infers from the fact that an action has a certain effect that the action is intended

   This refers to the famous Intent vs. Result flaw, in which authors conflate whether or not an action was intended to do X with whether or not the action had the consequence of doing X. We definitely weren't complaining about that kind of switch.

   12%
4. D

   Not an Objection4% picked this

   fails to consider the possibility that there may be other medical reasons for surgically removing

   Since this starts with fails to consider, we can ask ourselves, "Would it weaken the argument to tell the author that there may be other reasons to remove tonsils?" Nope. It would only hurt the author if we said, "there may be other medical conditions that give rise to breathing problems at night."

   4%
5. E

   Correct77% picked this

   fails to consider the possibility that some breathing problems during sleep may be caused by something

   Why this is right

   Since this starts with fails to consider, we can ask ourselves, "Would it weaken the argument to tell the author that there may be other causes of breathing problems during sleep?" Sure! The author thinks that as soon as we surgically remove the possibility of swollen tonsils, we have guaranteed that kids won't experience any breathing problems during sleep, but we could call that conclusion highly into question by reminding the author, "Yo --- there are other potential causes of breathing problems. Even if little Johnny doesn't have breathing problems from swollen tonsils anymore, he still might have them from his asthma."

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

   77%