- Tue Jul 16, 2024 9:52 pm
#107646
Hi Romi,
This argument starts by showing a correlation between businesspeople who travel internationally on business and chronic insomnia. A correlation just means that two things are statistically related. In this case, we know that these international business travelers are more likely to have chronic insomnia, but we don't actually know why.
One possible explanation is that the travel itself (specifically the stresses that come with business travel) is causing the chronic insomnia. This is the explanation that the argument concludes is correct.
However, that is not the only possible explanation. Another possible explanation would be that people who are already suffering from insomnia are more likely to travel internationally. For example, they may decide that since they don't sleep much anyway, they won't worry as much about jet lag, etc..
There are five main ways to strengthen a causal argument. One of these ways is to eliminate the possibility that the stated cause and effect are actually reversed. This is what Answer C does. By stating that businesspeople who suffer insomnia are not more likely than businesspeople who don't suffer insomnia to accept these international trips, this answer eliminates the possibility that insomnia is causing these businesspeople to take more of these trips. Since businesspeople who already suffer insomnia aren't more likely to accept these international business trips, that makes it more likely that the trips are causing the insomnia rather than the other way around.
