Sufficient Assumption Flashcards
If the statement is added to the argument, the conclusion must be true. Negating the answer choice would kill the conclusion. -- 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.
Because of the ubiquity of television in modern households, few children today spend their free time reading stories, which lack the visual appeal of flashy television programs. Thus, few children today will develop a lifelong interest in literature.
The conclusion drawn above follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?
A) No children who spend their free time reading stories fail to develop a lifelong interest in literature
B) Only those people who currently spend their free time reading stories will develop a lifelong interest in literature
C) No children who grow up in a household that lacks a television fail to spend their free time reading stories
D) Few people who watch a great deal of television develop a lifelong interest in literature
E) Few children who spend their free time reading stories watch television
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B) Only those people who currently spend their free time reading stories will develop a lifelong interest in literature
Critic: Words of literature often present protagonists who scorn allegiance to their society and who advocate detachment rather than civic-mindedness. However, modern literature is distinguished from the literature of earlier eras in part because it more frequently treats such protagonists sympathetically. Sympathetic treatment of such characters suggests to readers that one should be unconcerned about contributing to societal good. Thus, modern literature can damage individuals who appropriate this attitude, as well as damage society at large.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the critic’s argument relies?
A) Some individuals in earlier eras were more concerned about contributing to societal good than is any modern individual.
B) It is to the advantage of some individuals that they be concerned with contributing to societal good.
C) Some individuals must believe that their society is better than most before they can become concerned with benefitting it.
D) The aesthetic merit of some literary works cannot be judged in compete independence of their moral effects.
E) Modern literature is generally not as conducive to societal good as was the literature of earlier eras.
B
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.
Professor: Each government should do all that it can to improve the well-being of all the children in the society it governs. Therefore, governments should help finance high-quality day care since such day care will become available to families of all income levels if and only if it is subsidized.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the professor’s argument depends?
A) Only governments that subsidize high-quality day care take an interest in the well-being of all the children in the societies they govern.
B) Government subsidy of high-quality day care would not be so expensive that it would cause a government to eliminate benefits for adults.
C) High-quality day care should be subsidized only for those who could not otherwise afford it.
D) At least some children would benefit from high-quality day care.
E) Government is a more efficient provider of certain services than is private enterprise.
D) At least some children would benefit from high-quality day care.
A transit company’s bus drivers are evaluating supervisors riding with each driver. Drivers complain that this affects their performance, but because the supervisor’s presence affects every driver’s performance, those drivers performing best with a supervisor aboard will likely also be the best drivers under normal conditions.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A) There is no effective way of evaluating the bus drivers’ performance without having supervisors ride with them.
B) The supervisors are excellent judges of a bus driver’s performance.
C) For most bus drivers, the presence of a supervisor makes their performance slightly worse than it otherwise would.
D) The bus drivers are each affected in roughly the same way and to the same extent by the presence of the supervisor.
E) The bus drivers themselves are able to deliver accurate assessments of their driving performance.
D) The bus drivers are each affected in roughly the same way and to the same extent by the presence of the supervisor.
Essayist: One of the claims of laissez-faire economics is that increasing the minimum wage reduces the total number of minimum-wage jobs available. In a recent study, however, it was found that after an increase in the minimum wage, fast-food restaurants kept on roughly the same number of minimum-wage employees as before the increase. Therefore, laissez-faire economics is not entirely accurate.
The essayist’s argument depends on assuming which of the following?
A) If laissez-faire economics makes an incorrect prediction about the minimum wage, then all the doctrines of laissez-faire economics are inaccurate.
B) Minimum-wage job availability at fast-food restaurants included in the study was representative of minimum-wage job availability in general.
C) No study has ever found that a business has decreased the number of its minimum-wage employees after an increase in the minimum wage.
D) The fast-food restaurants included in the study did not increase the average wage paid to employees.
E) The national unemployment rate did not increase following the increase of the minimum wage.
B) Minimum-wage job availability at fast-food restaurants included in the study was representative of minimum-wage job availability in general.
Large-scale gov projects designed to benefit everyone - such as roads, schools, and bridges - usually benefit some small segments of society, initially at least, more than others. The more equally and widely political power is distributed among the citizenry, the less likely such projects are to receive funding. Hence, government by referendum rather than by means of elected representatives tends to diminish, not enhance, the welfare of society.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A) Large-scale government projects sometimes enhance the welfare of society
B) Large-scale projects are more likely to fulfill their intended purposes if they are not executed by the government
C) Government by referendum actually undermines the democratic process
D) The primary purpose of an equal distribution of political power is to enhance the welfare of society
E) Government by referendum is the only way to distribute political power equally and widely
A) Large-scale government projects sometimes enhance the welfare of society
The desire for praise is the desire to obtain, as a sign that one is good, the favorable opinions of others. But because people merit praise only for those actions motivated by a desire to help others, it follows that one who aids others primarily out of a desire for praise does not deserve praise for that aid.
Which of the following, if assumed, enables the conclusion to be properly drawn?
A) An action that is motivated by a desire for the favorable opinion of others cannot also be motivated by a desire to help others.
B) No action is worthy of praise if it is motivated solely by a desire for praise.
C) People who are indifferent to the welfare of others do not deserve praise.
D) One of deserves praise for advancing one’s own interests only if one also advances the interests of others.
E) It is the motives rather than the consequences of one’s actions that determine whether one deserves praise for them.
A) An action that is motivated by a desire for the favorable opinion of others cannot also be motivated by a desire to help others.
We learn to use most of the machines in our lives through written instruction, without knowledge of the machines’ inner workings, because most machines are specifically designed for use by nonexperts. So, in general, attaining technological expertise would prepare students for tomorrow job market no better than would a more traditional education stressing verbal and quantitative skills.
The argument depends on assuming which one of the following?
A) Fewer people receive a traditional education stressing verbal and quantitive skills now than did 20 years ago
B) Facility in operating machines designed for use by non experts is almost never enhanced by expert knowledge of the machines’ inner workings
C) Most jobs in tomorrow’s job market will not demand the ability to operate many machines that are designed for use only by experts
D) Students cannot attain technological expertise and also receive an education that does not neglect verbal and quantitative skills
E) When learning to use a machine, technological expertise is never more important than verbal and quantitative skills
C) Most jobs in tomorrow’s job market will not demand the ability to operate many machines that are designed for use only by experts
