#7 - Rotelle: You are too old to address effectively the

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below! Thanks!

[Anali]

Hi Powerscore Staff!

I was torn between two answer choices ((A) and (C)) for this question. However, the correct answer choice is (D). I eliminated (D) because "must be younger than Sims" is extreme wording for a correct answer to an assumption question. The following is how I approached each of the answer choices:

(A): Kept as a contender because when I negated it, the conclusion seemed to be weakened
(B): "are the only people who cannot effectively address" is extreme language and I did not take this to be an assumption made by Rotelle
(C): Kept as a contender because Rotelle may have been suggesting younger people effectively address difficult issues facing the country. I ultimately ended up choosing (A)
(D): Eliminated for the reason mentioned above
(E): Eliminated this AC because it brings in the new concept "young people's points of view" which is outside the scope of Rotelle's statement

Can someone explain how (D) is the correct answer?

Thank you

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Anali,

It is good to keep a look out for extreme wording. However, you should not automatically eliminate answers simply because the statement is too 'extreme' or definite.

In this case, Rotelle takes a clear stance against Sims's age. She claims that Sims is "too old" to effectively address the current issues in the country. This argument is rather strong; Rotelle does not equivocate by saying that Sims may be too old, or that his age might inhibit him from addressing the issues. She clearly states that Sims is simply too old.

There is one ambiguity that the stimulus is playing on. Rotelle never says that Sims is an old person, or that Sims is elderly. She merely says that Sims is 'too old.' This means that Sims may be 33 years old, and Rotelle thinks that anyone over the age of 32 can't address the national issues. Sims may also be 99 or 119 years old, and Rotelle may think that anyone over the age of 98 or 118 can't effectively address the issues. Rotelle only makes a relative claim about Sims's age; she does not make an absolute claim about his age. Keep this in mind

The question stem asked us to find the answer choice that Rotelle is committed to. In other words, what is it that she must assume?

Answer choice (A) would be a necessary assumption is Rotelle had said that Sims can't address the issues because he is old. However she never makes this claim. Rotelle may believe that anyone under the age of 119 could effectively address the issues, but Sims may be one of only a couple 119+ year-olds in the world.

Answer choice (B) says that Rotelle thinks everyone under Sims's age can effectively address the issue. Rotelle however makes no claim that anyone can effectively address the issues. She may be a complete pessimist about solving the problems in the country!

Answer choice (C) makes the same mistake that answer choice (B) does. Rotelle does not need to believe that anyone can solve the issues. She only needs to believe that Sims is too old.

Answer choice (E) is irrelevant. Rotelle makes no claims about understanding the youth's perspectives

The correct answer was answer choice (D) Rotelle must believe that if there is someone who can solve the issues, they must be younger than Sims. In other words, If someone is as old or older than Sims, they will also be incapable of addressing the issues.
Let's apply the Assumption Negation Technique to this answer choice. The original statment was that If you are Sims age or older, you will not be able to address the issue. In order to negate a conditional statement, negate the necessity of the condition. Thus, the logical negation would read "If someone can effectively address the issues, they don't have to be younger than Sims, they can be younger or older." If we accept this logical negation, and apply it to Rotelle's argument, we cannot accept her conclusion.

[Anali]

It is clear to me now. Thank you for that great explanation Francis! It helped tremendously!

[kliu49]

Hello,

Can someone help me out here by using the Assumption Negation technique? I was caught between answers B and D. I had trouble negating Answer B.

Would the negation of answer choice B be:
- Those who are NOT at least as old as Sims (those who are younger) are the only people who cannot effectively address the difficult issues

OR
- Those at least as old as Sims are the only people who CAN effectively address the difficult issues

If anyone could please help me clear this up, I'd be so grateful! And show how the negation of Answer D would lead to a clear choice.

Thank you!!!!!!
Kat

[Zach Foreman]

Kliu,
This is sufficient-necessary reasoning and I think it is most effectively attacked using SN diagramming. The heart of The argument is this:

If Sims age (or older), then cannot address difficult issues. (CP: If can address difficult issues, then younger than Sims)
Sims is Sims age (obviously).
Therefore, Sims cannot address difficult issues.

S SA CADI

S CADI

B can be diagrammed asCADI SA. This is also known as a double not not arrow and is very confusing. The contrapositive would be If younger than Sims, then can address difficult issues. The negation would be: If one cannot address difficult issues then you are younger than Sims. Or to contraposit that- If Sims age or older, then one can address difficult issues. So, this does weaken the argument but doesn't destroy it, because the conclusion is that Sims cannot address difficult issues. Even if he is capable by age, perhaps there are other reasons he cannot.

As for D, it diagrams to CADI SA so the negation is (we simply negate the necessary condition) CADI SA or in plain English: If one is capable of addressing difficult issues, one must be Sims age or older. We see this is a direct contradiction to the argument and, if accepted, would make it invalid.
Hope that makes sense. The basic idea is I wouldn't use Assumption Negation Technique but if you do, to negate a sufficient-necessary statement, you logically negate the necessary condition only.