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#24990
Complete Question Explanation

Flaw in the Reasoning—SN. The correct answer choice is (B)

The journalist above expresses excitement at the discovery of a secret list of members of a trade organization. The representative admitted that the list contained names of members of the organization. The list did not include Bruch Industries. From these facts, the journalist concludes that Bruch Industries must not be a member of the trade organization. Though the journalist does not explicitly use familiar conditional indicators, his reasoning does contain conditional ideas. The representative from the trade organization stated that every company on the journalist’s list. We can diagram this idea as follows:
  • Sufficient ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... Necessary

    Company is on the list ..... :arrow: ..... Company is a member of the trade organization
The journalist makes an error in reasoning by stating that just because Bruch Industries is not on the list, we know it must not be a member of the trade organization. We can diagram the journalist’s reasoning as follows:
  • Sufficient ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... Necessary

    Company is on the list ..... :arrow: ..... Company is a member of the trade organization
We can see that the journalist’s argument contains a Mistaken Negation. With this information, we are ready and able to approach the answer choices.

Answer choice (A): The journalist does not delve into the motivations of group members. The journalist does not have to provide a justification for why Bruch Industries would want to join the organization. As long as he or she sufficiently supports that they are in fact a member, their motivation for joining is irrelevant.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The representative stated that every company on the list is a member of the group, but not that the list was a complete list of every member of the organization. As explained above, the journalist makes an error in conditional reasoning by assuming that just because Bruch Industries is not on the list, it is not a member.

Answer choice (C): The manner in which the journalist discovered the document is irrelevant to the issue of membership. Once the representative admitted that the list contained members of the organization, the fact that it was originally meant to be a secret became irrelevant.

Answer choice (D): Like in answer choice (A), the argument is not concerned with the motivations of Bruch Industries. The argument is entirely focused on the composition of the trade organization. The motivations a company would have for joining, or for hiding its membership, is not relevant to the argument in the stimulus which attempts to derive knowledge of the trade organization based on a list of known members.

Answer choice (E): There was no indication in the stimulus that the trade organization was known for lying; just that they were known for withholding information. The journalist does not err by drawing a conclusion based on information partially drawn from the representative’s statements.
 ieric01
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#73689
Hello,

I have a different reason why D) was wrong. I don't disagree with the reasoning given here, but I wanted to offer an alternative view. I'd love to know if my reasoning was spot on.

Here it goes...

D) is assuming Bruch Industries IS part of the trade group but they don’t want to disclose their membership. Whatever their reasons are is irrelevant. We can’t assume Bruch Industries is a member until we know the document names every member of the trade group. D) is wrong because it makes an assumption that hasn’t been proven.
 Adam Tyson
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#73691
Good point, ieric01! ALl the more reason to reject that answer choice. Well done!
 ieric01
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#73720
Thank you Adam! I appreciate your feedback. :)

Hope all is well,

-Eric

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