#3 - Legislator: A foreign company is attempting to buy

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[AWash180]

Could someone explain the reasoning for answer choice E? I chose answer A. Now looking back I realize I was probably rushing through the stimulus. Answer A cannot be correct because the author's conclusion is about prohibiting the sale and that is not repeated in the premises. However, I think I misunderstand how answer choice E is worded so I can't explain why that is the correct answer.

Thank you!

[AWash180]

I meant D instead of E. Could someone still explain the prephrase?

Thank you!

[James Finch]

Hi A. Wash,

The issue with the stimulus here is that it assumes that foreign-owned mines will not be a reliable source of iron ore for domestic manufacturers, without providing any evidence for why this would be true. So we need to find an answer choice that reflects that logical leap made by the stimulus.

(A) is talking about circular reasoning, where the conclusion is a restatement of the premise and no actual argument is being made. That is rarely the correct answer on flaw questions, because it is relatively easy to spot, and this one is no different; there is not circular reasoning in the stimulus.

(D) is correct because it accurately reflects the legislator's logical leap in concluding that foreign ownership automatically means an unreliable supply, thereby excluding the possibility that foreign owners would reliably supply iron to the domestic manufacturers.

Hope this clears things up!

[Lsat180Please]

Can you explain why D is better than B? I understood that they needed a "reliable source of iron" and concluded from the basis that there was no reliable domestic source that they did not have any reliable source. Is that not a part to whole-flaw?

Thanks!

[Dave Killoran]

Can you explain why D is better than B? I understood that they needed a "reliable source of iron" and concluded from the basis that there was no reliable domestic source that they did not have any reliable source. Is that not a part to whole-flaw?

Thanks!

I'd say that it is a stretch to think that what we have here is a part to whole flaw in the stimulus. For one thing, domestic vs foreign iron producers make up the entire industry as a whole, and so when the stimulus says that eventually foreign producers will own most/all the domestic mining companies, they effectively are the whole. And the lack of reliability comes from how they act, and isn't transmitted from the part (domestic) to the whole (all foreign).

Even if we did interpret that there was a part to whole flaw, does (B) accurately describe that? No, because (B) is about "one particular industry" vs "industry as a whole" whereas the stimulus is continuously about a single industry (iron mining).

Answer choice (D) is far more direct here, and highlights how the possibility of one outcome is taken as if it is certain (and we know the Legislator sees it as certain since he/she states unequivocally that "We should prohibit this sale").

Thanks!

[Leela]

This is a slippery slope fallacy, right? If so, would this fit into the error in the use of evidence categorization of flaws?

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Leela!

Yes, I would agree that this could be considered a slippery slope fallacy, and therefore falls under the errors in the use of evidence category. Good job!

Best,
Kelsey

[menkenj]

Hi there,
I was able to answer this question correctly but I am working on understanding why it is labeled as CE (cause and effect) in the analytics platform. Can someone please help explain?
Thanks!
Julie

[Beth Hayden]

Hi Menkenj,

Cause and effect comes into play here because the stimulus proposes that if they do X (cause), it will set off a chain reaction leading to Y (effect). The causal reasoning the legislator uses is flawed, and that's what (D) reflects.

Here is the chain of reasoning:

Cause: Foreign company buys FerroMetal

Effect: Foreign companies might buy other iron-mining companies
Effect: Foreigners will control most domestic iron mining
Effect: Manufacturers won't be able to get a reliable domestic supply

(D) gets at that last arrow in the chain by pointing out that even though it might happen, it's not certain to happen.

Hope that's helpful!