fnumiamisburg wrote:
Some people believe that gaining wealth is due to luck. However, research from many institutions worldwide indicates a strong correlation between gaining wealth and high educational levels. Thus research supports the view that gaining wealth is largely the result of making informed career and business choices.
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument..
(A) presumes, without providing justification that only highly educated people make informed career and business choices.
(B) overlooks the possibility that people who make informed career and business choices may nonetheless belong to a poor family.
(C) presumes, without providing justification, that informed career and business choices are available to everyone.
(D) overlooks the possibility that the same thing may causally contribute both to education and to gaining wealth.
(E) does not acknowledge that some people who fail to make informed career and business choices have gained wealth.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The argument contains a causal conclusion that asserts that good health is primarily caused by informed lifestyle choices (education):
Premise: Some people believe that good health is due to luck.
Premise: However, studies from many countries indicate a strong correlation between good health and high educational levels.
Conclusion: Thus research supports the view that good health is largely the result of making informed lifestyle choices.
The author errs in assuming that the correlation mentioned in the second premise supports a causal conclusion.
Answer choice (A): A disproportionate number of people (about one in three) select this answer. Does the argument presume that to make an informed lifestyle choice a person must be highly educated? The author certainly believes that high educational levels lead to informed choices, but the answer suggests that the author thinks that the highly educated are the only people able to make an informed choice. The wording is too strong and this answer is incorrect.
Answer choice (B): The author specifically notes that good health is largely the result of making informed lifestyle choices. There is no mention of poor health, nor need there be since the argument focuses on a correlation between good health and education. Thus, overlooking the possibility mentioned in this answer choice is not an error.
Answer choice (C): The author does not make the presumption that informed lifestyle choices are available to everyone, just that making good choices generally results in good health.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer. Remember, the error of causality is one with many facets, and one of those errors is assuming that no third element caused both the stated cause and the stated effect. This answer choice indicates that a third element (such as money) could cause both the conditions described in the argument. Remember, if you know an error of causality occurred in the stimulus, look for the answer that uses the words cause or effect! This is the only answer to do so, and it is correct.
Answer choice (E): Unlike many causal conclusions, the conclusion in this argument is not ironclad. The author specifically says that the effect is largely the result of the cause, and that statement implicitly allows other causes to lead to the effect, even if one does not make an informed lifestyle choice.