ashutosh_73 wrote:
Hi Experts,
I find (A), (D), (E) equally tempting. Can't find errors to eliminate them, please clarify.
Stimulus breakdown:
P1: Re-election received more financial support from property developers
+
P2: voting recd. favors the interest of property developers
=====================================
Conclusion:letting campaign contri influence his vote in city C
Here's (D):
Quote:
presumes that one thing is the cause of another when it could easily be an effect of it
Joshi is on the city council
right now. His
past voting record favors the interests of property developers. Property developers are supporting his re-election campaign with contributions.
The author concludes from this that the campaign contributions are CAUSING his pro-property votes. But what if he was
already pro-property, and THAT caused property developers to support him with contributions? The argument totally misses this -- it assumes that the contributions caused the votes, but it could easily be the other way around.
(D) is looking good.
Here's (A):
Quote:
takes for granted that because certain events occurred sequentially, the earlier events caused the later events
The sequence of events is:
- Joshi is on the council.
- Joshi votes pro-property developer.
- Property developers support Joshi's re-election campaign.
The author assumes that the LATER event (#3) caused the EARLIER event (#2). That's the
opposite of what (A) says, so (A) isn't good grounds to criticize the argument.
Eliminate (A).
Here's (E):
Quote:
has a conclusion that is simply a restatement of one of the argument's stated premises
The author concludes that "Joshi is clearly letting campaign contributions influence his vote in city council." In other words, the voting record is CAUSED by the campaign contributions.
Then, as evidence for this, the author cites Joshi's voting record, and separately the campaign contributions. The conclusion does something really different by saying that one of these things causes the other.
So, we can't criticize the argument by saying that the conclusion simply restates the premises.
(E) is out, and (D) is the correct answer.
I hope that helps!