PrepTest 146, Section 2, Question 25
Substantial economic growth must be preceded by technological(55 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AThe argument assumes(13 more words not shown)
- BThe argument attempts(17 more words not shown)
- CThe argument attempts(14 more words not shown)
- DThe argument confuses(13 more words not shown)
- EThe argument presumes,(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
New technology may be necessary for a boom without being enough to create one. The author says substantial growth needs earlier innovations that industries put to use. Fine. But a ban could produce new inventions and still create other problems that prevent growth. What if replacing fossil fuels is initially too expensive, or industries can't keep operating while they make the transition? Those possibilities aren't ruled out by the fact that new technology will appear.
What we’re looking for
The flaw answer should capture that jump from a requirement to a guarantee. Giving an economy something it needs doesn't establish that it has everything it needs. We aren't denying the promised innovations; we're questioning whether they settle the economic outcome.
Working the answers
- A
The author offers the promised innovations and a claim about what growth requires as evidence for the boom. That evidence doesn't establish the conclusion, but it isn't just a restatement of the conclusion. A weak argument is not automatically an argument that assumes what it is trying to prove.
- B
The author mentions critics who predict a depression, but doesn't examine their reasoning and infer that their prediction must be false because their reasoning is bad. Instead, the author offers a separate argument from technological innovation to growth. B describes a different error; it isn't the route this argument takes.
- C
Stronger evidence than necessary wouldn't itself be a problem. The trouble here is the opposite: the evidence doesn't guarantee the claimed boom. We know innovation is needed, not that producing it settles everything else that determines growth.
- DCorrect
Technological innovation is presented as a necessary condition: substantial growth must have such innovation beforehand. The author then uses its expected presence as a sufficient condition, something that would guarantee growth.
But having a required ingredient isn't the same as having a complete recipe. Industries would still have to incorporate the innovations into their procedures, and other obstacles could prevent a boom. The premise doesn't say that innovation alone overcomes those obstacles.
- E
The premise doesn't say innovations only sometimes precede substantial growth. It says substantial growth must be preceded by them. E gets the starting relationship wrong. The error is turning an always-required condition into a guarantee, which D states accurately.
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