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06 Mar 2020, 02:03
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E
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
70% (01:46) correct
30%
(01:56)
wrong
based on 534
sessions
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Monroe, despite his generally poor appetite, thoroughly enjoyed the three meals he ate at the Tip-Top Restaurant, but, unfortunately, after each meal he became ill. The first time he ate an extra-large sausage pizza with a side order of hot pepper; the second time he took full advantage of the all-you-can-eat fried shrimp and hot peppers special; and the third time he had two of Tip-Top’s giant meatball sandwiches with hot peppers. Since the only food all three meals had in common was the hot peppers. Monroe concludes that it is solely due to Tip-Top’s hot peppers that he became ill.
Monroe’s reasoning is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?
(A) He draws his conclusion on the basis of too few meals that were consumed at Tip-Top and that included hot peppers.
(B) He posits a causal relationship without ascertaining that the presumed cause preceded the presumed effect.
(C) He allows his desire to continue dining at Tip-Top to bias his conclusion.
(D) He fails to establish that everyone who ate Tip-Top’s hot peppers became ill.
(E) He overlooks the fact that at all three meals he consumed what was, for him, an unusually large quantity of food.
Updated on: 09 Mar 2020, 07:03
Originally posted by freedom128 on 06 Mar 2020, 04:23.
Last edited by freedom128 on 09 Mar 2020, 07:03, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by freedom128 on 09 Mar 2020, 07:03, edited 2 times in total.
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A) is tempting because it describes a sampling flaw and this draws on small sample. However, the conclusion is only about 3 meals. There is no generalization made.
B) didn't happen. The author does posit a causal relationship, but we know that the presumed cause (eating peppers) happened before the presumed effect (getting sick).
C) didn't happen. We have no information about whether he wants to dine at TipTop in the future.
D) is incorrect. It begins with the phrase "fails to establish", which is the same thing as saying "assumes". It is NOT necessary to assume that everyone became ill for this argument. We just want to know why the cause of Monroe's illness
E) is CORRECT ANSWER as the argument has overlooked something that might have caused Monroe's illness other than the peppers. In any case, we can't establish one cause when alternative causes are possible.
FINAL ANSWER IS (E)
B) didn't happen. The author does posit a causal relationship, but we know that the presumed cause (eating peppers) happened before the presumed effect (getting sick).
C) didn't happen. We have no information about whether he wants to dine at TipTop in the future.
D) is incorrect. It begins with the phrase "fails to establish", which is the same thing as saying "assumes". It is NOT necessary to assume that everyone became ill for this argument. We just want to know why the cause of Monroe's illness
E) is CORRECT ANSWER as the argument has overlooked something that might have caused Monroe's illness other than the peppers. In any case, we can't establish one cause when alternative causes are possible.
FINAL ANSWER IS (E)
06 Mar 2020, 13:29
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The right answer is E.
Monroe is concluding that the hot pepper that was common to all the three meals he had and got sick afterward, is the cause of his sickness. Monroe is described as someone who generally has poor appetite, implying he usually eats little portions of food per meal. Furthermore, the argument informs us that the first meal he ate comprises extra-large sausage pizza with a side order of hot pepper. Take note that for someone with generally poor appetite, the description of the food he ate seems quite larger than normal. In his second meal, he took full advantage of the all-you-can-eat fried shrimp and hot peppers special. In hindsight, all-you-can-eat fried shrimp also suggest that Monroe probably took more than he usually does considering his generally poor appetite. The third time, he reportedly took two of Tip-Top's giant meatball sandwiches with hot peppers. This also suggests another possibility that he ate much more than he does.
So while Monroe could be right in his conclusion that his three illnesses were caused by the hot pepper, he could be wrong based on the information above. He ate portions that were generally more than he usually eats. So, it is possible that the seemingly large portions of the various foods he ate on the three different occasions could account for his sickness. Since we are dealing with a cause and effect argument, an easy flaw in Monroe's argument is that he failed to consider the possibility of other potential causes of his ailments. So we need an answer choice that suggests that Monroe drew a wrong conclusion by pin-pointing the hot peppers as the cause of his ailments when it could easily be the unusually large portions he took on all three occasions. This is exactly what answer choice E says, hence the right answer is E.
Quote:
Monroe is concluding that the hot pepper that was common to all the three meals he had and got sick afterward, is the cause of his sickness. Monroe is described as someone who generally has poor appetite, implying he usually eats little portions of food per meal. Furthermore, the argument informs us that the first meal he ate comprises extra-large sausage pizza with a side order of hot pepper. Take note that for someone with generally poor appetite, the description of the food he ate seems quite larger than normal. In his second meal, he took full advantage of the all-you-can-eat fried shrimp and hot peppers special. In hindsight, all-you-can-eat fried shrimp also suggest that Monroe probably took more than he usually does considering his generally poor appetite. The third time, he reportedly took two of Tip-Top's giant meatball sandwiches with hot peppers. This also suggests another possibility that he ate much more than he does.
So while Monroe could be right in his conclusion that his three illnesses were caused by the hot pepper, he could be wrong based on the information above. He ate portions that were generally more than he usually eats. So, it is possible that the seemingly large portions of the various foods he ate on the three different occasions could account for his sickness. Since we are dealing with a cause and effect argument, an easy flaw in Monroe's argument is that he failed to consider the possibility of other potential causes of his ailments. So we need an answer choice that suggests that Monroe drew a wrong conclusion by pin-pointing the hot peppers as the cause of his ailments when it could easily be the unusually large portions he took on all three occasions. This is exactly what answer choice E says, hence the right answer is E.
Quote:
Incorrect. The information provided in the argument is enough for him to draw a conclusion. This choice is irrelevant to the argument.
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This option suggests that Monroe should have reversed the causal relationship he established between the hot pepper and getting sick. The problem is that it is illogical to reverse the causation. Monroe cannot get sick as the cause that led to the effect of eating hot pepper.
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This is completely out of scope. No desire is expressed in the argument above.
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This is unreasonable. Our bodies do not respond the same way. A food that one person is allergic to is another person's delicacy. All diners at Tip-Top do not have to become ill after taking the hot pepper before Munroe's illness can be attributed to it.
