Kira: It would be unwise for you to buy that insurance policy. It's designed to make money for the company that sells...

shunhe on August 7, 2020

Hi @sfriedfertig,

Thanks for the question! So let’s take a look at this stimulus first. What’s going on here? Kira says that it’s unwise to buy the insurance policy (the conclusion). Why? Because the insurance policy is designed to make money for the company selling it, and they’re trying to make profits.

Binh then agrees that the insurer is in business to make money. But just because they’re trying to make money doesn’t have to mean that it’s unwise to get the policy (Binh’s conclusion).

Now we’re asked for how Binh responds to Kira’s argument. So these are questions that are good to think about before we look at the answer choices and just try to come up with our own answer first. Binh basically says, yeah, you’re right about the whole profiting thing, but that doesn’t have to mean that it’s unwise to get the policy. So he’s kind of agreeing with her in part, while saying that her conclusion doesn’t really follow.

Now take a look at (D), which tells us that Binh concedes Kira’s premises without denying her conclusion, while asserting that the latter (the conclusion) doesn’t follow from the former (the premises). While worded confusingly on purpose, this sums up exactly what happens. Binh concedes the premises, that the policy is designed to make money for the company that sells it. He agrees with this. And he doesn’t deny the conclusion, he doesn’t straight up say “it’s definitely wise to get this policy.” But he does say that Kira’s conclusion (it’s unwise to get the policy) doesn’t follow from the premises, and that happens in the second sentence of his argument.

(A) is wrong because Binh doesn’t say that Kira overlooks any facts.

(B) is wrong because Binh doesn’t deny Kira’s premises. That’d be like saying “actually, it’s not designed to make profits for the company.”

(C) is wrong because Binh doesn’t say that Kira’s premises point strongly toward her conclusion being false. That’d be like saying, “Yeah, the policies are designed to make money for the company, but that actually means it is wise to get the policy!”

(E) is wrong because Binh doesn’t say the premises are inconsistent, or conflict with each other.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.