| Critical Reasoning Butler: February 2025 |
| February 4 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 Doctors are finding that the rate at which their medical knowledge becomes obsolete has been increasing due to the exponential expansion of medical science over the last twenty years. Given how quickly medical science has been progressing, the average doctor’s skills and knowledge base become obsolete and must be updated as frequently as every seven years.
Which of the following plans, if feasible, would allow a hospital to prepare most effectively for the rapid obsolescence of skills and knowledge described above?
A. The hospital will establish a program to allow selected doctors the opportunity to receive additional training ten years after their original hiring date.
B. The hospital will raise its investment in advanced medical equipment per year for at least the next seven years.
C. The hospital will ensure that it can offer its doctors any training necessary to meet their job requirements.
D. Before introducing doctors to the latest medical science theories, the hospital will start an educational program to inform its doctors of the probable far-reaching effects of these theories.
E. At regular intervals, the hospital will survey its doctors to determine how the expansion of medical science has affected them.
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CR 2 During the Age of Exploration, in Europe, spices and tropical fruits were almost exclusively consumed by the wealthiest members of society; the cost and prestige of these commodities fell when they began to be consumed by the common man. Thus, if common people begin consuming commodities, such as caviar, that are currently exclusively associated with the upper class, the cost and prestige of these commodities will also fall.
The argument above is based on
A) a separate argument that employs circular reasoning
B) an effort to disprove a generality through an exception
C) a parallelism between a historical phenomenon and a future event
D) an appeal to commonly held beliefs and values
E) a critique of the opposition’s character