Necessary Assumption Flashcards
On Sufficient Assumptions, your task is to find an assumption that would guarantee the truth of the conclusion. On Necessary Assumptions, your task is to find an assumption that needs to be true in order for the argument's reasoning to even have a chance of being true, but may not be enough to guarantee the conclusion.
The more profitable a corporation is, the more valuable its managers’ time is. As a result, it is especially costly of highly profitable corporations to have their managers spend time monitoring employees. Such corporations can save money by reducing this monitoring, as long as the employees are given strong incentives to keep working hard. So highly profitable corporations can save money by giving their employees expensive bonuses.
The argument requires the assumption that
A) only a few corporations give their employees bonuses that provide strong enough incentives for the employees to keep working hard even when they are not being monitored
B) If a highly profitable corporation could save money by giving its employees expensive bonuses, it is because giving such bonuses would reduce the amount of time its managers must spend monitoring those employees
C) the more valuable the managers’ time is at a corporation, the less likely it is that the corporations ill actually have those mangers spend time monitoring employees
D) for people who are employees of highly profitable corporations where monitoring is reduced, expensive bonuses constitute strong incentives to keep working hard
E) a highly profitable corporation can save money by reducing its managers’ monitoring of employees only if its employees are given expensive bonuses
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D) for people who are employees of highly profitable corporations where monitoring is reduced, expensive bonuses constitute strong incentives to keep working hard
Fossilized teeth of an extinct species of herbivorous great ape have on them phytoliths, which are microscopic petrified remains of plants. Since only phytoliths from certain species of plants are found on the teeth, the apes’ diet must have consisted only of those plants.
The argument assumes which one of the following?
A) None of the plants species that left phytoliths on the apes’ teeth has since become extinct.
B) Plants of every type eaten by the apes left phytoliths on their teeth.
C) Each of the teeth examined had phytoliths of the same plant species on it as all the other teeth.
D) Phytoliths have also been found on the fossilized teeth of apes of other extinct species.
E) Most species of great ape alive today have diets that consist of a fairly narrow range of plants.
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B) Plants of every type eaten by the apes left phytoliths on their teeth.
People who browse the web for medical information often cannot discriminate between scientifically valid information and quackery. Much of the quackery is particularly appealing to readers with no medical background because it is usually written more clearly than scientific papers. Thus, people who rely on the web when attempting to diagnose their medical conditions are likely to do themselves more harm than good.
Which one of the following is an assumption the argument requires?
A) People who browse the web for medical information typically do so in an attempt to diagnose their medical conditions.
B) People who attempt to diagnose their medical conditions are likely to do themselves more harm than good unless they rely exclusively on scientifically valid information.
C) People who have sufficient medical knowledge to discriminate between scientifically valid information and quackery will do themselves no harm if they rely on the web when attempting to diagnose their medical conditions.
D) Many people who browse the web assume that information is not scientifically valid unless it is clearly written.
E) People attempting to diagnose their medical conditions will do themselves more harm than good only if they rely on quackery instead of scientifically valid information.
B) People who attempt to diagnose their medical conditions are likely to do themselves more harm than good unless they rely exclusively on scientifically valid information.
Camera manufacturers typically advertise their products by citing the resolution of their cameras’ lenses, the resolution of a lens being the degree of detail the lens is capable of reproducing in the image it projects onto the film. Differences between cameras in this respect are irrelevant for practical photography, however, since all modern lenses are so excellent that they project far more detail onto the film than any photographic film is capable of reproducing in a developed image.
A) The definition of the term “resolution” does not capture an important determinant of the quality of photographic instruments and materials.
B) In determining the amount of detail reproduced in the developed photographic image, differences in the resolutions of available lenses do not compound the deficiencies of available film.
C) Variations in the method used to process the film do not have any significant effect on the film’s resolution.
D) Flawless photographic technique is needed to achieve the maximum image resolution possible with the materials and equipment being used.
E) The only factors important in determining the degree of detail reproduced in the final photographic print are the resolution of the camera’s lens and the resolution of the film.
B) In determining the amount of detail reproduced in the developed photographic image, differences in the resolutions of available lenses do not compound the deficiencies of available film.
Although consciousness seems to arise from physical processes, physical theories can explain only why physical systems have certain physical structures and how these systems perform various physical functions. Thus, no strictly physical theory can explain consciousness.
The conclusion of the argument follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?
A) Physical theories can explain only physical phenomena.
B) An explanation of consciousness must encompass more than an explanation of physical structures and functions.
C) The physical structures and functions of consciousness are currently unknown.
D) Consciousness arises from processes that are entirely explainable by physical theories.
E) An explanation of physical structures and functions must be formulated in strictly physical terms.
B) An explanation of consciousness must encompass more than an explanation of physical structures and functions.
Editorial: The threat of harsh punishment for a transgression usually decreases one’s tendency to feel guilt or shame for committing that transgression, and the tendency to feel guilt or shame for committing a transgression reduces a person’s tendency to commit transgressions. Thus, increasing the severity of the legal penalties for transgressions may amplify people’s tendency to ignore the welfare of others.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the editorial’s argument?
A) Legal penalties do not determine the morality of an action.
B) At least some actions that involve ignoring the welfare of others are transgressions.
C) People who are concerned about threats to their own wellbeing tend to be less concerned about the welfare of others.
D) The threat of harsh punishment deters people form committing transgressions only if this threat is at least sometimes carried out.
E) Everyone has at least some tendency to feel guilt or shame for committing extremely severe transgressions.
B) At least some actions that involve ignoring the welfare of others are transgressions.
It is said that people should accept themselves as they are instead of being dissatisfied with their own abilities. But this is clearly a bad principle of the goal is a society whose citizens are genuinely happy, for no one can be genuinely happy if he or she is not pursuing personal excellence and is unwilling to undergo personal change of any kind.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?
A) Those who are willing to change will probably find genuine happiness.
B) People who are not dissatisfied with themselves are less likely than others to pursue personal excellence.
C) Personal excellence cannot be acquired by those who lack genuine confidence in their own abilities.
D) People are justified in feeling content with themselves when they have achieved some degree of personal excellence.
E) Happiness is not genuine unless it is based on something that is painful to obtain.
B) People who are not dissatisfied with themselves are less likely than others to pursue personal excellence.
The current pattern of human consumption of resources, in which we rely on nonrenewable resources, for example metal ore, must eventually change. Since there is only so much metal ore available, ultimately we must either do without or turn to renewable resources to take its place.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?
A) There are renewable resource replacements for all the nonrenewable resources currently being consumed.
B) We cannot indefinitely replace exhausted nonrenewable resources with other nonrenewable resources.
C) A renewable resource cannot be exhausted by human consumption.
D) Consumption of nonrenewable resources will not continue to increase in the near future.
E) Ultimately we cannot do without nonrenewable resources.
B) We cannot indefinitely replace exhausted nonrenewable resources with other nonrenewable resources.
