A weapons-smuggling incident recently took place in country Y. We all know that Y is a closed society. So Y's government must have known about the weapons.
Which of the following is an assumption that would make the conclusion above logically correct?
(A) If a government knows about a particular weapons-smuggling incident, it must have intended to use the weapons for its own purposes.
No…negating this reveals the argument works just fine. We don’t need to assume that the government INTENDED to use the weapons for ITS OWN PURPOSES to draw the conclusion that the government must have known about the weapons.
(B) If a government claims that it knew nothing about a particular weapons-smuggling incident, it must have known everything about it.
No…not an assumption
(C) If a government does not permit weapons to enter a country, it is a closed society.
No…not an assumption.
(D) If a country is a closed society, its government has a large contingent of armed guards patrolling its borders.
No…not an assumption.
(E) If a country is a closed society, its government has knowledge about everything that occurs in the country.
Correct. Suppose the government didn’t know everything that occurs in its closed society, then in that case the conclusion that they MUST HAVE KNOWN about the weapons can fail.
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