- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8952
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Tue May 17, 2016 2:52 pm
#24990
Complete Question Explanation
Flaw in the Reasoning—SN. The correct answer choice is (B)
The journalist above expresses excitement at the discovery of a secret list of members of a trade organization. The representative admitted that the list contained names of members of the organization. The list did not include Bruch Industries. From these facts, the journalist concludes that Bruch Industries must not be a member of the trade organization. Though the journalist does not explicitly use familiar conditional indicators, his reasoning does contain conditional ideas. The representative from the trade organization stated that every company on the journalist’s list. We can diagram this idea as follows:
Answer choice (A): The journalist does not delve into the motivations of group members. The journalist does not have to provide a justification for why Bruch Industries would want to join the organization. As long as he or she sufficiently supports that they are in fact a member, their motivation for joining is irrelevant.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The representative stated that every company on the list is a member of the group, but not that the list was a complete list of every member of the organization. As explained above, the journalist makes an error in conditional reasoning by assuming that just because Bruch Industries is not on the list, it is not a member.
Answer choice (C): The manner in which the journalist discovered the document is irrelevant to the issue of membership. Once the representative admitted that the list contained members of the organization, the fact that it was originally meant to be a secret became irrelevant.
Answer choice (D): Like in answer choice (A), the argument is not concerned with the motivations of Bruch Industries. The argument is entirely focused on the composition of the trade organization. The motivations a company would have for joining, or for hiding its membership, is not relevant to the argument in the stimulus which attempts to derive knowledge of the trade organization based on a list of known members.
Answer choice (E): There was no indication in the stimulus that the trade organization was known for lying; just that they were known for withholding information. The journalist does not err by drawing a conclusion based on information partially drawn from the representative’s statements.
Flaw in the Reasoning—SN. The correct answer choice is (B)
The journalist above expresses excitement at the discovery of a secret list of members of a trade organization. The representative admitted that the list contained names of members of the organization. The list did not include Bruch Industries. From these facts, the journalist concludes that Bruch Industries must not be a member of the trade organization. Though the journalist does not explicitly use familiar conditional indicators, his reasoning does contain conditional ideas. The representative from the trade organization stated that every company on the journalist’s list. We can diagram this idea as follows:
- Sufficient
Necessary
Company is on the list 
Company is a member of the trade organization
- Sufficient Necessary
Company is on the list Company is a member of the trade organization
Answer choice (A): The journalist does not delve into the motivations of group members. The journalist does not have to provide a justification for why Bruch Industries would want to join the organization. As long as he or she sufficiently supports that they are in fact a member, their motivation for joining is irrelevant.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The representative stated that every company on the list is a member of the group, but not that the list was a complete list of every member of the organization. As explained above, the journalist makes an error in conditional reasoning by assuming that just because Bruch Industries is not on the list, it is not a member.
Answer choice (C): The manner in which the journalist discovered the document is irrelevant to the issue of membership. Once the representative admitted that the list contained members of the organization, the fact that it was originally meant to be a secret became irrelevant.
Answer choice (D): Like in answer choice (A), the argument is not concerned with the motivations of Bruch Industries. The argument is entirely focused on the composition of the trade organization. The motivations a company would have for joining, or for hiding its membership, is not relevant to the argument in the stimulus which attempts to derive knowledge of the trade organization based on a list of known members.
Answer choice (E): There was no indication in the stimulus that the trade organization was known for lying; just that they were known for withholding information. The journalist does not err by drawing a conclusion based on information partially drawn from the representative’s statements.
