Concetta: Franchot was a great writer because she was ahead of her time in understanding that industrialization was taking an unconscionable toll on the family structure of the working class.
Alicia: Franchot was not a great writer. The mark of a great writer is the ability to move people with the power of the written word, not the ability to be among the first to grasp a social issue. Besides, the social consequences of industrialization were widely understood in Franchot’s day.
In her disagreement with Concetta, Alicia does which one of the following?
(A) accepts Concetta’s criterion and then adds evidence to Concetta’s case
(B) discredits Concetta’s evidence and then generalizes from new evidence
(C) rejects Concetta’s criterion and then disputes a specific claim
(D) disputes Concetta’s conclusion and then presents facts in support of an alternative criterion
(E) attacks one of Concetta’s claims and then criticizes the structure of her argument
Questions 17-18
Zelda: Dr. Ladlow, a research psychologist, has convincingly demonstrated that his theory about the determinants of rat behavior generates consistently accurate predictions about how rats will perform in a maze. On the basis of this evidence, Dr. Ladlow has claimed that his theory is irrefutably correct.
Anson: Then Dr. Ladlow is not responsible psychologist. Dr. Ladlow’s evidence does not conclusively prove that his theory is correct. Responsible psychologists always accept the possibility that new evidence will show that their theories are incorrect.
17. Which one of the following can be properly inferred from Anson’s argument?
(A) Dr. Ladlow’s evidence that his theory generates consistently accurate predictions about how rates will perform in a maze is inaccurate.
(B) Psychologists who can derive consistently accurate predictions about how rats will perform in a maze from their theories cannot responsibly conclude that those theories cannot be disproved.
(C) No matter how responsible psychologists are, they can never develop correct theoretical explanations.
(D) Responsible psychologists do not make predictions about how rats will perform in a maze.
(E) Psychologists who accept the possibility that new evidence will show that their theories are incorrect are responsible psychologists.
18. Anson bases his conclusion about Dr. Ladlow on which one of the following?
(A) an attack on Dr. Ladlow’s character
(B) the application of a general principle
(C) the use of an ambiguous term
(D) the discrediting of facts
(E) the rejection of a theoretical explanation
19. Smith: Meat in the diet is healthy, despite what some people say. After all, most doctors do eat meat, and who knows more about health than doctors do?
Which one of the following is a flaw in Smith’s reasoning?
(A) attacking the opponents’ motives instead of their argument
(B) generalizing on the basis of a sample consisting of a typical cases
(C) assuming at the outset what the argument claims to establish through reasoning
(D) appealing to authority, even when different authorities give conflicting advice about an issue
(E) taking for granted that experts do not act counter to what, according to their expertise, in their best interest
20. The rise in the prosperity of England subsequent to 1840 can be attributed to the adoption of the policy of free trade, since economic conditions improved only when that policy had been implemented.
The reasoning in the above argument most closely parallels that in which one of the following?
(A) An exhaustive search of the marshes last year revealed no sign of marsh hawks, so it can be assumed that a similar search this year would reveal equally little sign of that kind of bird.
(B) Building a circular bypass road around Plainfield probably helped the flow of local traffic in the town center, since a circular bypass road generally cuts a city’s through traffic markedly.
(C) Before the banks raised their interest rates, people on average incomes could almost afford a mortgage for an amount twice their salary. Hence the rate increase has now put mortgages beyond their reach.
(D) Since the improvement in the company’s profitability began to occur after the vice president’s new morale-building program was put in place, that program can be credited with the improved result.
(E) The extinction of the dinosaurs was brought about by an asteroid colliding with Earth, so their extinction could not have come before the collision.
