| Critical Reasoning Butler: April 2025 |
| April 22 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
________________________________
CR 1 Roberta was born in 1967, and so in 1976 she was nine years old. It is clear from this example that the last two digits of a person’s birth year will be the same as the last two digits of the year of that person’s ninth birthday, except that the position of the digits will be reversed.
Which of the following is the best criticism of the assertions made?
A. The generalization is valid only for those birth years that do not end in two zeroes.
B. The example does not exhibit the same principle as is expressed in the generalization based on it.
C. The generalization is valid only for those birth years in which the last digit is one greater than the second-to-last digit.
D. The example cannot be shown to be correct unless the truth of the generalization is already presupposed.
E. The generalization is valid only for those birth years in which the last digit is greater than five.
________________________________
CR 2The village of Eyam in central England is often referred to as “plague village.” In the summer of 1665, an outbreak of the plague was discovered in the village, and the people of the village cut off all outside contacts and let the disease run its course. For almost a year and a half, the plague touched families throughout Eyam, and when villagers finally reopened their village to outsiders, over 75% of the population had died. More interesting, however, was the fact that nearly 25% of the population was still living. In some cases, the plague carried off all but one member of a family: Elizabeth Hancock is remembered for having lost her husband and six children, but she never contracted the plague, even while nursing them. Hancock’s story is not unique; most of the survivors proved to be immune to the infection altogether. Some researchers have found that a large proportion of the descendents of plague survivors from Eyam carry a mutation of a gene known as delta 32.
Which of the following conclusions can best be inferred from the information in the passage?
(A) The delta 32 mutation was limited to residents of the village of Eyam and now appears only in their descendents.
(B) The people of the village of Eyam indicate a disproportionately high rate of the delta 32 mutation.
(C) Since the descendents of many of the plague survivors carry the delta 32 mutation, some researchers believe this gene helped people resist contracting the plague.
(D) The plague survivors from the village of Eyam developed the delta 32 mutation in response to the outbreak of plague and are thus immune to future outbreaks.
(E) The people of the village of Eyam were wrong to isolate themselves during the outbreak of the plague, because it guaranteed death for so many residents.