Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardFlaw in the Reasoning

Sociologist: Sustaining rapid economic growth requires a society to foster a culture of widespread technological innovation. However, a society will fail to cultivate such a culture if it does not possess a robust and accessible educational system. Observers note that several developing nations are currently investing heavily to overhaul and expand their educational infrastructure. Therefore, it is inevitable that these nations will soon experience sustained rapid economic growth.

Which of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the sociologist's reasoning?

  1. A
    It takes for granted that because economic growth requires technological innovation, technological innovation itself cannot occur without economic growth.
  2. B
    It confuses a mere statistical association between robust educational systems and rapid economic growth with an underlying causal relationship.
  3. It treats a condition that is logically necessary for a society to experience sustained economic growth as a condition that is sufficient to guarantee that growth.Answer
  4. D
    It relies on an illicit shift in the meaning of the phrase 'robust educational system' between the premises and the conclusion.
  5. E
    It fails to distinguish between an intermediate conclusion regarding technological innovation and the argument's final conclusion.

Answer

The correct answer is the option stating that the argument treats a condition that is logically necessary for sustained economic growth as a condition that is sufficient to guarantee it.
The correct answer accurately identifies the logical gap in the argument. The premises establish that economic growth requires technological innovation, which in turn requires a robust educational system. By chaining these statements, we know an educational system is absolutely necessary for economic growth. However, the conclusion claims that establishing an educational system will 'inevitably' result in economic growth, thereby falsely treating a necessary condition as a sufficient one.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the conditional logic in the first premise.
Economic Growth -> Technological Innovation
The word 'requires' indicates that technological innovation is a necessary condition for economic growth.
2
Analyze the conditional logic in the second premise.
Technological Innovation -> Educational System
The phrase 'will fail... if it does not possess' translates to 'No Educational System -> No Technological Innovation'. The contrapositive of this is 'Technological Innovation -> Educational System'.
3
Combine the conditional statements to find the complete relationship.
Economic Growth -> Educational System
Chaining the two premises shows that an educational system is a logically necessary requirement for economic growth.
4
Evaluate the argument's conclusion against the established chain.
The conclusion states: Educational System -> Economic Growth.
The phrase 'inevitable that these nations will soon experience' treats the new educational infrastructure as a sufficient trigger for economic growth.
5
Identify the gap between the premises and the conclusion.
The argument confuses a necessary condition with a sufficient condition.
Having established that an educational system is necessary, the author falsely assumes that fulfilling this requirement guarantees the end result.

Key Concept

Flaw in the Reasoning: Necessary vs. Sufficient
Rate this question

Topics

Flaw in the Reasoning

More questions from this topic