Logical reasoning PrepTest 140 · Section 1 · Question 24

Incorrect. The Pediatrician is the one making the argument—there's no appeal to authority made by her. In addition, a pediatrician would be an appropriate authority to appeal to for children's health issues.

Incorrect. This answer describes a circular argument, but that doesn't happen in this argument. Here, the treatment of a disease is used to draw a conclusion about a preventative treatment.

Incorrect. The argument doesn't assume intent—it establishes in stating that a certain disease is treated with a certain procedure, demonstrating intent.

Incorrect. The argument concludes that a certain medical reason justifies the action of removing tonsils, so it doesn't need to consider whether there are other reasons to do the same thing.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Errors in Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
Swollen tonsils can cause sleep breathing issues, so removing them will ensure children don't have sleep breathing issues.

Answer Anticipation:
That conclusion is very strong—it states that an action will "ensure" that a given outcome won't happen. That action does prevent one cause of the outcome, but it never establishes that it's the only cause of that action. If there are multiple causes of sleep issues in children, then removing tonsils wouldn't prevent all cases of these sleep issues—just those caused by tonsil issues.

Answer Explanation:
This answer highlights the degree issue from the stimulus. Removing tonsils removes one potential cause of sleep breathing issues, but that doesn't "ensure" that nothing else will cause those breathing issues.

Key Takeaway:
When flawed arguments feature strong conclusions, the correct answer frequently addresses that strength. It is usually the case that the premises aren't strong enough to support that conclusion, and the way in which they fall short will lead you to the correct answer. For example, here, the premises weren't strong enough to support the conclusion since they dealt with one cause of a disease instead of all of them.