#2 - To keep one’s hands warm during the winter, one never

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Weaken. The correct answer choice is (C)

Here the author begins by pointing out that to keep your hands warm, you don’t ever absolutely need
gloves or mittens. You can keep your hands warm by wearing a thermal undershirt or a sweater, since
keeping your vital organs warm can keep your hands warm as well. Putting the argument in a more
straightforward order:

You can keep your hands warm by keeping your vital organs warm.

Therefore you can keep your hands warm by wearing a thermal undershirt or sweater.

Therefore gloves or mittens are never an absolute necessity in keeping your hands warm.

The argument is followed by a weaken question stem, so the correct answer choice will effectively
attack part or all of the argument presented above.

Answer choice (A): The author makes no claims about which part of the body it is more important to
keep warm, so this answer choice has no effect on the argument presented.

Answer choice (B): The author presents no information about the best type of layering for keeping
warm, so this choice plays no role in the argument and thus cannot weaken.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. If wearing an extra layer of clothing does
not, at certain temperatures, keep your hands warm, then this disproves the premise that you can
always keep your hands warm with an extra layer of clothing.

Answer choice (D): The author does not claim that wearing an extra layer of clothing is the best
way to keep warm—only that it is one effective way to do so. Even if turning up the heat is more
effective, this does not weaken the author’s somewhat limited claim about wearing an extra layer.

Answer choice (E): There is no suggestion in the stimulus that the warmth is derived in the process
of putting on an extra layer of clothes, but rather that wearing an extra layer can be an effective way
to keep warm.

[voodoochild]

Experts,
Pt58 S4 Q2 Here, the correct answer attacks the premise. C) attacks the fact that one "never" needs gloves during the winter. What am I missing here? I chose the correct answer, but I am a bit confused.

Thanks

[Steve Stein]

Hi voodoochild,

In that one, the author points out that keeping your vital organs can keep your hands warm as well, concluding that an extra layer can always keep your hands warm, then jumping to the bold conclusion that you never need gloves or mittens to keep your hands warm in the winter. The stimulus is followed by a weaken question, so the correct answer choice, as you know, should weaken the author's argument. If, as the correct answer choice provides, you cannot keep your hands warm with an extra layer in frost bite, that attacks the author's argument.

I hope that's clear, but I'm not sure--what are you asking exactly? Let me know--thanks!

~Steve

[voodoochild]

Steve,
I am sorry for not posting the question properly.

In this argument, the Premise is that "one can always keep one's hand warm by putting on an extra layer of clothing, such as XYZ."

The correct answer C goes against the above statement by saying that wearing an extra layer of clothing will NOT keep one's hands warm at temperatures ABC.


C is going against the premise. Why is it so? Can you please help me?

Thanks in advance.

[BethRibet]

Hi Voodoochild,

It may help if you understand that the statement:

"One can always keep one's hands warm simply by putting on an extra layer of clothing..."

is a sub-conclusion, derived from the premise that "keeping one's vital organs warm can keep one's hands warm as well". Note the word can which only assures us that sometimes (not necessarily always), keeping vital organs warm can keep hands warm. The stimulus then initially concludes one can always keep hands warm in this way, and from there, fully/finally concludes that no other mittens or gloves are needed to warm hands in winter.

So what you need to attack to weaken this argument is the assumption that since warm clothing on the torso can warm hands, it will certainly or always warm hands. Answer choice C does so, by giving an example of a situation (temperatures low enough for frostbite) in which an extra warm sweater would not be enough to protect hands.

hope this helps!

Beth

[voodoochild]

is a sub-conclusion, derived from

Thanks BethRibet! I love Critical Reasoning/Logical Reasoning.