It is impossible to do science without measuring. It is impossible to measure without having first selected units of...

a42 on May 9, 2018

Please explain the above.

Ashley-Tien on July 2, 2018

A and B are similar; is B incorrect because it is missing a premise?

Mehran on July 3, 2018

Hi all, thanks for your posts. Let's first assess the stimulus. This is an argument. The conclusion is "science is arbitrary." Why? The given premises in support of this conclusion are (1) it's impossible to do science without measuring, and (2) it is impossible to measure without having first selected units of measurement, and (3) the selection of a unit of measurement is always arbitrary.

You could diagram this all as:
Sc ==> M ==> Select ==> A
(If science, then measure, if measure, then select unit, if selection, then arbitrary)

You are asked to select the answer choice that parallels this reasoning.

@erojas, @a42. Answer choice (D) is incorrect because it does not parallel the reasoning in the stimulus. This answer choice says:
It is impossible to be a manager without evaluating people. M ==> E
The process of evaluation is necessarily subjective. E ==> S
People resent being evaluated subjectively.
Thus, people resent managers.

Notice how the first two premises are about managers; the last one and the conclusion are about people who are managed. This is not parallel to the stimulus, which discusses just one thing (science).

Hey @Ashley-Tien. Answer choice (B) is incorrect because the premise is about running "an expanding business" and yet the conclusion is about "a business." This also does not parallel the stimulus, which presents a transitive reasoning (rather than an overgeneralization).

Hope this helps, everyone! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Tony on December 27, 2018

Possible to diagram answer choice A so we can see how it parallels the reasoning in the passage.

Ravi on December 27, 2018

@melissakaijukags,

Happy to help!

The stimulus says it's impossible to do science without measuring.

DS - ->M

It then says it's impossible to measure without having first selected units of measurement

M - ->SUM

Then the conclusion says that science is arbitrary since the selection of a unit of measurement is always arbitrary

From this statement, we know that

SUM - ->A

and the conclusion from this statement is

DS - ->A

The whole chain looks like this:

DS - >M - >SUM - >A

C: DS - >A

The structure is

A - >B - >C - >D

C: A - >D

We're looking for this exact structure in the answer choice we select.

Answer A states that long hours of practice are necessary for developing musical skill

DMS - ->LHMP

Then it states that one must develop one's musical skill in order to perform difficult music

PDM - ->DMS

So now we have

PDM - ->DMS - ->LHMP

Then it states that long hours of practice are tedious

LHMP - >T

PDM - ->DMS - >LHMP - >T

The conclusion says performing difficult music is tedious

PDM - ->T

Answer A's structure is

PDM - ->DMS - >LHMP - >T

C: PDM - >T

This is the exact structure that we saw in the stimulus.

It's A - >B - >C - >D

C: A - >D

This is our answer choice.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have more questions!

liwenong28 on August 20, 2020

The diagramming of A really helped! I see where I went wrong was diagramming P2 (PDM => DMS) as DMS => PDM. Can I clarify if the phrase "in order to" introduces a S condition? Any tips how to tell which is the S/N condition in this case? Thanks!