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Difficulty: EasyNecessary Assumption

Consider the following argument:

The management of the City Tribune newspaper wants to increase the publication's overall profit margin. To achieve this, they plan to switch from their current high-quality printing paper to a significantly cheaper, lower-quality paper. By reducing these production costs, the management concludes that the newspaper's overall profit margin will undoubtedly increase.

Statement: For the management's conclusion to be logically drawn, the argument necessarily assumes that switching to the lower-quality paper will not cause a decrease in readership and sales severe enough to cancel out the financial savings gained from using the cheaper paper.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is true because it correctly identifies a defensive assumption required by the argument, verified by the Negation Test.
The statement is true. The argument claims that cutting costs will lead to higher profits, completely ignoring the potential negative effects on revenue caused by a drop in product quality. For the conclusion to hold, the argument must assume that this potential negative effect (decreased sales) will not be so severe that it wipes out the cost savings.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the argument's main conclusion and primary premise.
Conclusion: The newspaper's overall profit margin will undoubtedly increase. Premise: They will reduce production costs by switching to a cheaper, lower-quality paper.
Understanding the core argument structure is required to evaluate what unstated ideas bridge the gap between the evidence and the conclusion.
2
Apply the Negation Test to the proposed assumption statement.
The negated assumption is: 'Switching to the lower-quality paper WILL cause a decrease in readership and sales severe enough to cancel out the financial savings.'
The Negation Test is the most reliable method for proving if an assumption is strictly necessary. If negating the assumption invalidates the conclusion, the assumption is necessary.
3
Evaluate the impact of the negated statement on the original conclusion.
If the newspaper loses so much revenue from canceled subscriptions that it erases the money saved on paper, their profit margin will not increase. The conclusion is destroyed.
Because the negated assumption makes the conclusion impossible, the original statement is indeed a logically necessary assumption.

Key Concept

Necessary Assumption (The Negation Test / Defender Strategy)
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Topics

Necessary Assumption

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