PrepTest 107, Section 4, Question 21
All too many weaklings are also cowards, and(22 more words not shown)
The flawed pattern of reasoning(15 more words not shown)
- AAll weasels are(13 more words not shown)
- BFew moralists have(39 more words not shown)
- CSome painters are(11 more words not shown)
- DIf an act(24 more words not shown)
- EA majority of(31 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Are these the same cowards?
We are told that some weaklings are cowards. “All too many” expresses dissatisfaction with how many there are; it does not mean every weakling is a coward. We also learn that few cowards are not fools, so most cowards fall in the fool group.
The author assumes those two overlaps connect. But the weaklings who are cowards might all belong to the small group of cowards who are not fools. Then none of those weaklings would be a fool, despite both premises being true.
Picture a large circle for cowards. Put most of them inside the fool circle, and put the weaklings in the small part left outside it. We have weaklings overlapping with cowards and fools overlapping with cowards, without weaklings overlapping with fools. The conclusion claims an overlap that this arrangement avoids.
What we’re looking for
For the parallel flaw, find two groups that each overlap a middle group, followed by an unsupported claim that the two outer groups overlap each other. The conclusion may appear first in an answer, so follow the relationships rather than the sentence order.
Working the answers
- A
“All weasels” is stronger than “all too many weaklings.” Every weasel is a carnivore, and every carnivore is a nonherbivore. The rules carry each weasel all the way into the nonherbivore group. The original does not give rules connecting every member of the relevant groups; it leaves room for the two overlaps to involve different cowards.
- B
The premises discuss moralists' courage to follow their principles and saints' ability to articulate theirs. Those are different groups and different abilities. We do not get a single middle group linking two separate overlaps in the way cowards link weaklings and fools. The conclusion about people acting like saints and speaking like moralists therefore follows a different pattern.
- CCorrect
Painters play the role of weaklings, musicians the role of cowards, and dancers the role of fools. Some painters are musicians, and some musicians are dancers. But the painter-musicians could be different people from the dancer-musicians. There need not be anyone who both paints and dances.
The conclusion comes first—some painters are dancers—but it makes the same unsupported connection between the outer groups. The original's stronger statement about how many cowards are fools still leaves room for the same problem: the overlaps need not include the same people.
- D
This gives an unbroken chain. Virtuous acts must be free, and free acts must be autonomous. So a virtuous act must be autonomous. Unlike the original, D does not rely on two partial overlaps that could involve different members of the middle group.
- E
This conclusion follows. A majority of voters favor a total ban, and every person who favors that ban is not opposed to stiffer tariffs. Take any voter in the majority: that voter must be not opposed to stiffer tariffs. The universal second rule connects the groups in a way the original's “few” exceptions do not.
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