Logical Reasoning

PT157 · S3 · Q6 Winchester Township cannot afford to keep

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Winchester Township cannot afford to keep its several small branch libraries supplied with a wide selection of current books.

Conclusion (thus)

Winchester would better meet its residents’ needs by closing its small branch libraries and opening one larger, well-supplied library.

Evidence

If the branch libraries were closed, then Winchester could afford to open one large library that carried a broader and more current selection of books.

Evaluate

We have a Plan (close the small libraries and build one big one) and a defined Goal (better meet its residents needs). Since this is Weaken, we're trying to think of ways to argue that building this larger, better-supplied library doesn't meet residents' needs better than the existing several small libraries do.

Maybe it's convenient for residents to visit the branch libraries that are close to their neighborhoods, while a single main library would be farther away and therefore less accessible.

Maybe residents don't even care about the wide selection of current books. Maybe their needs revolve more around older books, computers, study rooms, and meeting rooms.

Goal

Let's look for any storyline that says the current state of affairs with several small branch libraries would serve residents' needs better than one large library that has a wider selection of new stuff, or just an answer saying that no one cares about the wider selection of new stuff.

6.

Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?

  1. Many Winchester residents never use

    Opposite (if anything)

    If many residents never use the branch libraries because of irregular hours, this actually supports closing them. Residents who are not using the branches have nothing to lose from their closure and might gain access to a larger library with more consistent hours.

    1% picked this

  2. Most Winchester residents have complained

    Opposite (if anything)

    This supports the argument for a larger library with better selection. It makes it sound like the potential upside of the larger library (wider selection) is something most residents care a lot about.

    1% picked this

  3. Correct

    The only possible site for

    Why this is right

    This just gives us a way to directly attack the conclusion by saying that most residents wouldn't be able to easily access this new larger library. If they can't easily access it, then it's hard to imagine that it will better meet their needs.

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

    88% picked this

  4. It would cost Winchester a

    Out of Scope

    The argument already accounts for the financial dimension by stating that closing branches would allow Winchester to afford a larger library. More importantly, the defined Goal that we're here to analyze is whether this new library would "better meet the residents' needs". Whether it costs a bunch of money doesn't really impact that (unless the answer told a story that in order to build this library, the city would have divert funds from other stuff that residents really need).

    5% picked this

  5. Each of Winchester’s branch libraries

    Too Weak

    First of all, "attempts to do X" gives us very little go off, because we don't know whether they actually succeed at doing X. But more importantly, we would have been able to argue that several small libraries better meets needs than one larger one, because even though the small libraries have smaller selections, those selections are tailored to the specific neighborhoods where those libraries are situated. But if all the small libraries are trying to cater to the entire city, there's no "specialization" value we could argue to having several, smaller libraries. So, if anything, this makes it easier to argue that we should just consolidate them all into one larger library with a wider selection that could better serve the entire township.

    5% picked this

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