{"id":10929,"date":"2012-04-13T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=10929"},"modified":"2012-04-20T18:07:09","modified_gmt":"2012-04-21T01:07:09","slug":"how-to-weaken-an-argument-in-gmat-critical-reasoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/how-to-weaken-an-argument-in-gmat-critical-reasoning\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Weaken an Argument in GMAT Critical Reasoning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

More Than One Way<\/h2>\n

Often the strongest ways to attack an argument is to undermine one of its pivotal assumptions: that\u2019s something I discussed in this post:https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/2012\/arguments-and-assumptions-on-the-gmat\/<\/a>.\u00a0 Other ways of attacking an argument include:<\/p>\n

a) questioning the evidence cited, and\/or questioning the starting point<\/p>\n

b) showing argument leads to an illogical or absurd further conclusion<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bad Evidence<\/h2>\n

In general, evidence is a good thing.\u00a0 After all, good evidence is the basis of all authority in the natural & social sciences.\u00a0 BUT, not all evidence is created equal.\u00a0 Any scientist knows: while good evidence is worth its weight in gold, poor evidence \u2014- \u00a0evidence that was not gathered by reliable means \u2014- is virtually worthless.<\/p>\n

In an argument, evidence cited might be a study, but it also might be a particular authority figure or a generally held belief.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to call a scientifically validated study into question, but many other kinds of starting points for arguments are not so solid.<\/p>\n

For example, if I argument begins, \u201cProfessor Snodbuttons says that all stocks between $50 and $100 per share will increase by at least 20% between now and next January.\u00a0 Therefore, etc.,\u201d then one way to call the entire argument into question would be to question Prof. Snodbuttons\u2019 credibility, or to point out that recently he was wrong on similar predictions.<\/p>\n

If an argument begins with a general belief (\u201cAll professional athletes make a lot of money.\u00a0 Therefore, etc.\u201d), then it would weaken the argument to cite evidence to the contrary (e.g. \u201cprofessional bowlers do not make a great deal of money.\u201d)<\/p>\n

A more subtle variant of these is: to affirm the evidence cited, but show that it is entirely independent of the argument.\u00a0 For example, consider this argument:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The vigorous stretching and environment of serenity created in a yoga class must have a positive effect on the heart.\u00a0 Recent surveys have shown that long-term yoga practitioners have a lower incidence of heart disease than does the general population.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That argument wants to draw the conclusion: yoga is good for the heart.\u00a0 It cites what seems as reasonably solid evidence: a study showing a negative correlation between yoga and heart disease.\u00a0 It would be hard to attack the strength of the evidence as such, but consider this objection:<\/p>\n

According to that same study, the vast majority of yoga participants are women, who suffer from heart disease at a much lower rate than men.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s a brilliant objection.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t question the validity of the study at all.\u00a0 Sure, yoga participants have lower rates of heart disease.\u00a0 It just makes the study irrelevant to the conclusion: yoga participants have lower rates of heart disease, not because of the yoga, but because they are mostly women.\u00a0 If the argument cites a piece of evidence, making that evidence irrelevant is a powerful objection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Look Where It Goes!<\/h2>\n

Instead of focusing on the starting point, an attack on the argument can follow where the conclusion leads.\u00a0 This can be a powerful way of attacking an argument without even getting into the specifics of the argument.<\/p>\n

If the conclusion of the argument implies further conclusions, some of which are unreasonable, illogical, or absurd, then simply showing that shows something is wrong with the conclusion.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how the argument arrived at that conclusion \u2014 it is implies something faulty, it\u2019s a faulty conclusion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Flexibility<\/h2>\n

In the Art of War, Sun-Tzu said: \u201cTherefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions\u2026He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent, and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.\u201d\u00a0 While we at Magoosh do not advocate open warfare\u00a0\":)\"\u00a0, Sun Tzu\u2019s words have often found resonance in the business world, especially the financial market.\u00a0 Here, they are quite pertinent to GMAT preparation.<\/p>\n

In GMAT Critical Reasoning, when you are asked to weaken an argument, be flexible.\u00a0 Keep in mind, there is more than one way to do this.\u00a0 While undermining the assumption is usually the strongest attack, keep in mind the others we have discussed here.\u00a0 If you can apply them all equal well in weakening arguments, perhaps we could call you \u201cheaven-born\u201d master of Critical Reasoning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here's a practice question:\u00a0https:\/\/gmat.magoosh.com\/questions\/1255<\/a><\/p>\n

This post was written by Mike McGarry, GMAT expert at Magoosh, and originally posted here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More Than One Way Often the strongest ways to attack an argument is to undermine one of its pivotal assumptions: that\u2019s something I discussed in this post:https:\/\/magoosh.com\/gmat\/2012\/arguments-and-assumptions-on-the-gmat\/.\u00a0 Other ways of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,783,243,721,735],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-magoosh-blog","category-blog","category-critical-reasoning-gmat","category-verbal-gmat-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10929"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11163,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10929\/revisions\/11163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}