Errors in Reasoning Questions - - Question 32

Scientific research at a certain university was supported in part by an annual grant from a major foundation. When th...

djayasinghe June 3, 2018

Answer Choice C?

Can someone explain to me why C cannot be the right answer? I see why A is the right answer also, I just don't understand why C is wrong.

Reply
Create a free account to read and take part in forum discussions.

Already have an account? log in

Christopher June 3, 2018

The motivation behind the promise has no impact on the conclusion. Since the Foundation's conclusion is that the weapons research will not benefit from their money, you're looking for something that weakens that conclusion. With (A) the suggestion that the Foundation's money would free up existing funds for weapon's research, weakening the conclusion that the weapons research would not benefit from the Foundation's money. The motivation behind the university's promise has no bearing on the conclusion at all. In fact, it's unlikely that the university would make such a promise for any reason other than to induce the Foundation to withdraw its threat, but that doesn't matter to the argument.

Does that help?