Few businesses will voluntarily implement environmental protection mea

Question

Few businesses will voluntarily implement environmental protection measures that benefit the public if those measures reduce profitability.  Even though such measures may cost less to implement than the total value of their benefits to society, the company making the decision bears all of the cost and receives little, if any, of the benefit. For example,  XYZ Corporation has for the last 10 years refused to install smokestack filters to reduce the air pollution emitted by its factory, claiming that the cost would be prohibitive.  Therefore, if such measures are to be implemented to protect the environment, they must be initiated by government regulation or intervention.

The bolded portions of the argument above perform which of the following functions?

A. The first phrase states the conclusion, and the second provides evidence, the truth of which supports the validity of the conclusion

B. The first phrase states a premise supporting the conclusion, and the second provides evidence, the falsity of which would disprove the first phrase.

C. The first phrase describes a general principle, and the second provides evidence countering that principle.

D. The first phrase states a claim supporting the conclusion, but for which no evidence is given, and the second describes an example supporting the conclusion.

E. The first phrase states a generalization supporting the conclusion, and the second cites an example supporting that generalization.

TommyWallach · Accepted Answer

Hey All,

Great work on this one. I saw that the "General approach" question got asked on this one, so I thought I'd weigh in. This is an "evaluate the argument" type of question, and nsp is on the right track. Basically, you want to do your total outline WITHOUT PAYING ATTENTION TO THE BOLDS. Once you've done that, you can try to figure out where the bolds fit in with your outline. ALSO, very often, it is enough to simply differentiate between what pieces provide evidence of or support for something else, which are COUNTER-premises, and which are mere claims/conclusions. Let's try that here.

Few businesses will voluntarily implement environmental rotection measures that benefit the public if those measures reduce profitability. Even though such measures may cost less to implement than the total value of their benefits to society, the company making the decision bears all of the cost and receives little, if any, of the benefit. For example, XYZ Corporation has for the last 10 years refused to install smokestack filters to reduce the air pollution emitted by its factory, claiming that the cost would be prohibitive. Therefore, if such measures are to be implemented to protect the environment, they must be initiated by government regulation or intervention.

Conclusion: Measure to protect environment must be initiated by government
Premises: Biz won't help environment if hurts profits. XYZ = concrete example of that premise.

What you'll see here is that BOTH bolded statements end up in that premise area. Let's see if we can find the answer with that info alone.

The bolded portions of the argument above perform which of the following functions?

1. The first phrase states the conclusion, and the second provides evidence, the truth of which supports the validity of the conclusion
PROBLEM: Neither bold is a conclusion.

2. The first phrase states a premise supporting the conclusion, and the second provides evidence, the falsity of which would disprove the first phrase.
PROBLEM: Okay. So the general approach breaks down here, because this does describe the two as both types of premises. However, the falsity of the second piece would not disprove the generalization.

3. The first phrase describes a general principle, and the second provides evidence countering that principle.
PROBLEM: We don't have any counter-premises here, so this is wrong.

4. The first phrase states a claim supporting the conclusion, but for which no evidence is given, and the second describes an example supporting the conclusion.
PROBLEM: Like B, this one comes close. However, the second piece does not support the conclusion, but the premise before it.

5. The first phrase states a generalization supporting the conclusion, and the second cites an example supporting that generalization.
ANSWER: There we go, premise, then a derivative premise.

Hope that helps!

-t

calvinhobbes · Answer

This type of questions is realy difficult!

I think a study of all possible answer choices would be helpful. Is there a collection?

TommyWallach · Answer

Calvin,

Do you mean in more detail than I provided above? What do you feel is missing? I thought I was comprehensive! : )

-t

calvinhobbes · Answer

Hi Tommy,

Your answers are always comprehensive and we all appreciate them.

What I meant is, sometimes I answer a question wrongly not becuase I don't comprehend the question or passage, but becuase I fail to understand the answer choices. Since there is a vast variety of answer choices (such as A is premise and B is an example; A is a statement that counters the conclusion while B is the conclustion), it is useful for me to study the answer choices first :p Would there be any materials on that? Hope this makes sense to you. Thanks.

TommyWallach · Answer

Hey Calvin,

Hmm. I think I do understand now. But there isn't really such thing as a comprehensive list of possible answer choices in "Evaluate the Argument" type questions. This is because the answer choices will change for every passage (they're specific to the exact wording of the passage). However, they do break down into a limited number of categories. Generally, every bolded statement will be some variation on a premise, a conclusion, a counter-conclusion, a counter-premise, an assumption (rare), or useless fluff (rare). From there, you simply need to read the passage as carefully as possible.

Hope that helps!

-t

TGC · Answer

Although (E) looks fine to me ,I like option (B).And I marked (B) as well.

Second is evidence,falsity of which disproves the first .

If an example is quoted against a premise , then yes example disproves the premise.

Why this can't be correct?

Plz Advice !!

Vercules · Answer

Hi targetgmatchotu,

Phrase 1 states --  Few businesses will voluntarily implement environmental protection measures that benefit the public if those measures reduce profitability

Phrase 2 states --  XYZ Corporation has for the last 10 years refused to install smokestack filters to reduce the air pollution emitted by its factory, claiming that the cost would be prohibitive.

(B) The first phrase states a premise supporting the conclusion, and the second provides evidence, the falsity of which would disprove the first phrase

As per (B) first is a premise supporting the conclusion; the firs part of choice (B) is correct. Now, what happens when you falsify phrase 2; it would simply mean that "corporation XYZ has for the last 10 years not refused to install....." this information for  just one company, XYZ  whereas phrase 1 states that " few businesses ". Falsifying phrase 2 would make XYZ among the few companies that will voluntarily implement environmental protection measures, but this will not disprove phrase 1.... So, falsifying phrase 2 does not disprove the first phrase.

Hope this helps,

Vercules

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Few businesses will voluntarily implement environmental protection mea

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Few businesses will voluntarily implement environmental protection mea

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