Methods of Reasoning Questions - - Question 43

Rifka: We do not need to stop and ask for directions. We would not need to do that unless, of course, we were lost.C...

maonuo November 11, 2019

Question

Could someone explain this a different way I don't understand Mehran's explanation unfortunately. Thanks.

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BenMingov November 11, 2019

Hi Maonuo, thanks for the question!

Rifka's statement can be simplified to the following conditional diagram:

Ask directions - > lost
NOT lost - > NOT ask directions (contrapositive)

She then concludes that they do not need to ask for directions, thereby assuming that they are not lost.

Craig rejects this assumption that they are not lost by clearly stating that they are lost. In so doing, he concludes that they need to ask for directions, which is a different conclusion from Rifka.

Don't be too worried if you found this question difficult, it's an unusual question but one that will surely help you down the line.

Hope this helps!