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- Fri Jun 02, 2017 6:17 pm
#35630
Complete Question Explanation
Assumption—SN. The correct answer choice is (E)
The author of this one concludes that James has misled the Core Curriculum committee by claiming that his proposal had the endorsement of the chair of the Anthropology Department. That endorsement, as it turned out, had been granted only if the proposal that she read had all of the recommendations that James would make to the Core Curriculum Committee.
The conditional phrase “only if” generally introduces a necessary condition; in this case we know that for James to get the Anthropology Department chair’s endorsement, it was necessary that all of the recommendations James would eventually make would be included in the proposal that she read:
Since the author’s conclusion is that James’ endorsement claim is misleading, the author must assume that not all of James’ recommendations were included in the proposal read by the Anthropology Department chair. The answer that provides this supporter assumption will be the correct answer choice.
Answer choice (A): The author does not discuss the effects of the endorsement—only that James’ claims were misleading. There is no way to know whether the Core Curriculum Committee’s implementation of James’ proposal is dependent upon the endorsement of the Anthropology Department chair, this choice should be eliminated.
Answer choice (B): The Anthropology Department chair did condition her endorsement on James’ not adding any recommendations, but that does not mean that she would have opposed any particular recommendation that James might come up with. All we know is that she was willing to provide her endorsement to the copy of the proposal that James presented to her, and not willing to provide a blanket endorsement to all recommendations without the opportunity to review them.
Answer choice (C): No information is provided as to James’ beliefs regarding his proposal’s dependence on the endorsement for implementation. Like answer choice (A), this choice claims that the proposal’s acceptance was dependent on the referenced endorsement. In reality, the legitimacy of James’ endorsement claim was dependent on the Anthropology Department chair’s having seen the final draft.
Answer choice (D): It doesn’t really matter whether James believed that the Anthropology Department chair would endorse his later recommendations—she specified that he only had the endorsement on the condition that the proposal she saw would be the final draft.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice, and the one that restates our prephrased answer to this supporter assumption question. The author’s argument requires this assumption:
Assumption—SN. The correct answer choice is (E)
The author of this one concludes that James has misled the Core Curriculum committee by claiming that his proposal had the endorsement of the chair of the Anthropology Department. That endorsement, as it turned out, had been granted only if the proposal that she read had all of the recommendations that James would make to the Core Curriculum Committee.
The conditional phrase “only if” generally introduces a necessary condition; in this case we know that for James to get the Anthropology Department chair’s endorsement, it was necessary that all of the recommendations James would eventually make would be included in the proposal that she read:
- Premise:
Anthropology Department chair endorsement 
all recommendations included
Contrapositive: all recommendations included A.D.C. endorsement
Since the author’s conclusion is that James’ endorsement claim is misleading, the author must assume that not all of James’ recommendations were included in the proposal read by the Anthropology Department chair. The answer that provides this supporter assumption will be the correct answer choice.
Answer choice (A): The author does not discuss the effects of the endorsement—only that James’ claims were misleading. There is no way to know whether the Core Curriculum Committee’s implementation of James’ proposal is dependent upon the endorsement of the Anthropology Department chair, this choice should be eliminated.
Answer choice (B): The Anthropology Department chair did condition her endorsement on James’ not adding any recommendations, but that does not mean that she would have opposed any particular recommendation that James might come up with. All we know is that she was willing to provide her endorsement to the copy of the proposal that James presented to her, and not willing to provide a blanket endorsement to all recommendations without the opportunity to review them.
Answer choice (C): No information is provided as to James’ beliefs regarding his proposal’s dependence on the endorsement for implementation. Like answer choice (A), this choice claims that the proposal’s acceptance was dependent on the referenced endorsement. In reality, the legitimacy of James’ endorsement claim was dependent on the Anthropology Department chair’s having seen the final draft.
Answer choice (D): It doesn’t really matter whether James believed that the Anthropology Department chair would endorse his later recommendations—she specified that he only had the endorsement on the condition that the proposal she saw would be the final draft.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice, and the one that restates our prephrased answer to this supporter assumption question. The author’s argument requires this assumption:
- Premise: all recommendations included A.D.C. endorsement
Assumption: all recommendations included
Valid Conclusion: A.D.C. endorsement (rendering James’ statements misleading).