Page 5-20 and 5-22 - Assumption and new information

[Blueballoon5%]

Hi! I wasn't sure where to post this, but I hope you can help. In the lesson book, on page 5-20, the text reads, "... assumption answer choices cannot contain extraneous information... The additional information about cats is not part of the author's assumption, and would make the answer choice incorrect." In other words, the correct answer choice in assumption questions CANNOT have new information.

However, I think page 5-22 contradicts this statement. On that page, the text reads, "This means that although the argument only discussed reading and intelligence, we suddenly find ourselves with assumptions addressing a wide variety of topics that were never discussed in the stimulus." This page seems to suggest that the correct answer to assumption questions can have new information.

I hope someone can help me understand which one is correct. Thanks!

[Adam Tyson]

(Note for our readers as time goes by: these page references may be to older versions of our full length course books. The same text the poster here is referring to is on pages 5-26 and 5-29 in the 2018 edition of those books)

Hey blueballoon, happy to help here! There's actually no contradiction here, because while it is true that no extraneous information can be included in a correct assumption answer, it is entirely possible that the answer choice will have previously unmentioned yet relevant information in it. This question type is, after all, in the "Help" family, which means the correct answer will bring in new information not given in the stimulus, or at least will make a statement not directly made in the stimulus. The discussion you are looking at deals with the assumptions inherent in all causal arguments, and those include assumptions that exclude other potential causes. Any potential alternate cause is relevant, not extraneous, and so bringing one up in order to exclude it is okay and does not conflict with the "no extraneous information" requirement.

Sorry for any confusion, I hope that clarifies it for you!