Assumptions/Completing Arguments
All first-year law students must take a writing course.
Alex is a first-year law student.
Therefore, Alex _____.
Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
A. is interested in improving writing skills
B. will take a writing course
C. wants to become a lawyer
D. has already taken a writing course
E. will enjoy the writing course
B. will take a writing course
Everyone I know who goes to the gym is healthy. Therefore, going to the gym makes people healthy.
The argument is flawed because it:
A. assumes that everyone defines “healthy” the same way
B. bases a conclusion on too small and unrepresentative a sample
C. fails to explain what motivates people to go to the gym
D. ignores the cost of gym memberships
E. assumes that people enjoy going to the gym
B. bases a conclusion on too small and unrepresentative a sample
A college claims that offering more online classes will increase student enrollment because online classes are more convenient for many students.
Which of the following, if true, most supports the college’s claim?
A. Some students prefer in-person classes for social reasons
B. Many colleges now offer at least some online classes
C. A large number of students cite convenience as an important factor when choosing a college
D. Online classes are often cheaper to operate than in-person classes
E. Some professors prefer teaching online
C. A large number of students cite convenience as an important factor when choosing a college
(Hint: election rigging)
All employees who work remotely must have reliable internet access.
Jordan works remotely.
Therefore, Jordan _____.
Which of the following most logically completes the argument?
A. prefers working from home
B. works fewer hours than in-office employees
C. has reliable internet access
D. uses a laptop provided by the company
E. lives far from the office
C. has reliable internet access
Mayor: A huge protest against plans to build a chemical plant in this town was held yesterday. The protestors claim that the factory could cause health problems. But this worry can be dismissed. Most of the protestors were there only because they were paid to show up by property developers who are concerned that the factory would lower the value of nearby land that they own.
Which one of the following most accurately expresses a flaw in reasoning in the mayor's argument?
A. The argument mischaracterizes an opposing view and then attacks this mischaracterized view.
B. The argument attempts to persuade by inducing fear of the consequences of rejecting its conclusion.
C. The argument rejects a claim simply b/c of the motivation that some people have for making it.
D. The argument generalizes on the basis of a few unrepresentative cases.
E. The argument mistakes a claim that a result is possible for a claim that the result is inevitable.
C. The argument rejects a claim simply b/c of the motivation that some people have for making it.
Durham: The mayor will agree to a tax increase because that is the only way the city council will agree to her road repair proposal, and that proposal is her top priority.
Espinoza: The mayor will not get her road repair proposal passed because it is more important to her that taxes not increase.
This dialogue provides the most support for the claim that Durham and Espinoza agree about which one of the following.
A. The mayor will agree to a tax increase
B. The only way that the city council will agree to pass the mayor's road repair proposal is if she agrees to a tax increase.
C. The mayor's road repair proposal is her top priority.
D. The mayor will not get her road repair proposal passed.
E. It is more important to the mayor that taxes not increase than it is that her road repair proposal passes.
B. The only way that the city council will agree to pass the mayor's road repair proposal is if she agrees to a tax increase.
Which case establishes that public figures must prove actual malice in defamation cases?
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
Scientists: Some pundits claimed that the public is afraid of scientists. This isn't true. I have been a scientist for several decades, and I have never met anyone who is afraid of scientists.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the scientist's argument?
A. Alleged scientific claims may be used to manipulate people, and it is understandable that people would be on their guard against such manipulation.
B. If a person understood what science is really about, then that person would not be afraid of scientists.
C. People may be apprehensive about technological developments that result from science, even if they are not afraid of scientists themselves.
D. If the public were afraid of scientists, then over several decades a scientist would encounter at least one person who was afraid of scientists.
E. Anyone who claims to be afraid of scientists is actually afraid of scientists.
D. If the public were afraid of scientists, then over several decades a scientist would encounter at least one person who was afraid of scientists.
When politicians describe their opponent's positions, they typically make those positions seem implausible and unattractive. In contrast, scholars try to make opposing positions seem as plausible and attractive as possible. Doing so makes their arguments against those positions more persuasive to their professional colleagues. politicians should take note: they could persuade more voters with their arguments if they simply followed the scholars in charitably formulating their opponent's positions.
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that...
A. Fails to address the possibility that an approach that works with one kind of audience will not work with another.
B. Fails to account for the difficulty of coming up with charitable formulations of positions to which one is opposed.
C. Focuses on the difference between two styles of argumentation even though those styles might be suited to similar audiences.
D. Takes for granted that both scholars and politicians have persuasion as their aim.
E. Presumes, without giving justification, that politicians formulate the positions of their opponents uncharitably even when they share those positions.
A. Fails to address the possibility that an approach that works with one kind of audience will not work with another.
Laird: Pure research provides us with new technologies that contribute to saving lives. Even more worthwhile than this, however, is its role in expanding our knowledge and providing new, unexplored ideas.
Kim: Your priorities are mistaken. Saving lives is what counts most of all. Without pure research, medicine would not be as advanced as it is.
Laird and Kim disagree on whether pure research
D. has its most valuable achievements in medical applications
Which case establishes the exclusionary rule?
Mapp v. Ohio
Ancient humans in eastern North America hunted mammoths until the mammoth disappeared from the area around 13,000 years ago. Recently, a fossil bone with an engraving that depicts a mammoth was found in an ancient settlement in eastern North America. This shows that the settlement was occupied at a time when mammoths lived in the area.
The argument requires the assumption that:
A. The engraving was made during the time when the settlement was occupied.
B. The fossil on which the engraving was made was not a mammoth bone.
C. When mammoths disappeared from eastern North America, there were no mammoths left anywhere in North America.
D. The engraving technique employed on the fossil was unique to eastern North America.
E. There is no scientific way of dating when the engraving of the mammoth was made.
A. The engraving was made during the time when the settlement was occupied.
Sociologists study folk tales because they provide a means of understanding the distinctive values of a culture. However, the folk tales in most cultures are adaptations of the same ancient narratives to the local Milieu.
Which of the following if true most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?
A. Because no single person is the author of a folktale, folk tales must reflect the values of a culture rather than those of an individual.
B. Folk tales are often oral traditions that persist from times when people left written materials far less frequently.
C. The manner in which a culture adapts its narratives reveals information about the values of that culture.
D. The ancient narratives persist largely because they speak to the basic themes and features of the human condition.
E. Folk tales are often morality tales used to teach children the values important to their culture.
C. The manner in which a culture adapts its narratives reveals information about the values of that culture.
Journalist: To reconcile the need for profits sufficient to support new drug research with the moral imperative to provide medicines to those who most need them but cannot afford them, some pharmaceutical companies feel justified in selling a drug in rich nations at one price and in poor nations at a much lower price. But this practice is unjustified. A nation with a low average income may still have a substantial middle class better able to pay for new drugs than are many of the poorer citizens of an overall wealthier nation.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the journalist’s reasoning?
C. Whether one deserves special consideration depends on one’s needs rather than on characteristics of the society to which one belongs.
Which Supreme Court case provided that the right to legal counsel is universal?
Gideon v. Wainwright
From time to time there is a public outcry against predatory pricing- where a company deliberately sells its products at prices low enough to drive its competitors out of business. But this practice clearly should be acceptable, b/c even after its competitors go out of business, the mere threat of renewed competition will prevent the company from raising its prices to unreasonable levels.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. Any company that is successful will inevitably induce competitors to enter the market.
B. It is unlikely that several competing companies will engage in predatory pricing simultaneously.
C. Only the largest and wealthiest companies can engage in predatory pricing for a sustained period of time.
D. It is only competition or the threat of competition that keeps companies from raising prices.
E. Any pricing practice that does not result in unreasonable prices should be acceptable.
E. Any pricing practice that does not result in unreasonable prices should be acceptable.
Lawyer: If you take something that you have good reason to think is someone else's property, that is stealing, and stealing is wrong. However, Meyers had no good reason to think that the compost in the public garden was anyone else's property, so it was not wrong for Meyers to take it.
The reasoning in the lawyer's argument is flawed in that the argument:
A. Confuses a factual claim with a moral judgment.
B. Takes for granted that Meyers would not have taken the compost if he had good reason to believe that it was someone else's property.
C. Takes a condition that by itself is enough to make an action wrong to also be necessary in order for the action to be wrong.
D. Fails to consider the possibility that the compost was Meyers' property.
E. Concludes that something is certainly someone else's property when there is merely good, but not conclusive. reason to think that it is someone else's property.
C. Takes a condition that by itself is enough to make an action wrong to also be necessary in order for the action to be wrong.
The supernova event of 1987 is interesting in that there is still no evidence of the neutron star that current theory says should have remained after a supernova of that size. This is in spite of the fact that many of the most sensitive instruments ever developed have searched for the tell-tale pulse of radiation that neutron stars emit. Thus, current theory is wrong in claiming that supernovas of a certain size always produce neutron stars.
Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
D. Several important features of the 1987 supernova are correctly predicted by the current theory.
Name all 9 sitting Supreme Court Justices
Roberts, Thomas, Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson, Barrett, Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch