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Difficulty: MediumGeneral Method of Reasoning

City Planner: To revitalize the downtown commercial district, we must widen the main avenues to create more street parking. The primary reason suburban shoppers avoid the downtown area is the difficulty of finding parking. By doubling the available street parking, we will undoubtedly reverse the recent decline in downtown retail revenue.

Transportation Analyst: Your conclusion is flawed. While parking is indeed scarce, widening the avenues would necessitate drastically narrowing the sidewalks and removing the mature trees that line the streets. According to recent urban studies, a pedestrian-friendly environment and aesthetic appeal are the most crucial factors in drawing suburban shoppers away from enclosed malls.

The transportation analyst responds to the city planner's argument by doing which one of the following?

  1. A
    shifting the point at issue from the economic viability of the downtown district to the environmental preservation of its trees
  2. B
    attempting to undermine the opposing argument by disputing the truth of one of its explicitly stated premises
  3. pointing out an overlooked consequence of the proposed course of action that would likely prevent it from achieving its intended goalAnswer
  4. D
    suggesting that the city planner has confused a mere correlation between parking scarcity and declining revenue with a true causal relationship
  5. E
    arguing that the city planner treats a condition that is necessary for revitalizing the district as if it were sufficient to do so

Answer

The correct answer accurately states that the analyst points out an overlooked consequence of the proposed course of action that would likely prevent it from achieving its intended goal.
The correct option perfectly captures the abstract structure of the analyst's counterargument. The analyst introduces a new, negative consequence of the planner's proposed solution (narrowing sidewalks and removing trees) and explains how this consequence directly undermines the ultimate objective of drawing shoppers downtown.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the City Planner's argument structure.
The planner proposes a specific plan (widening avenues for parking) to achieve a desired economic goal (revitalizing retail revenue).
Understanding the core mechanism of the first argument is necessary to evaluate the structural nature of the response.
2
Analyze the Transportation Analyst's counterargument.
The analyst accepts the premise that parking is scarce but introduces new information: implementing the plan will cause side effects (narrowing sidewalks, removing trees) that destroy the very elements (pedestrian appeal) needed to achieve the economic goal.
This isolates the exact rhetorical method used by the respondent in abstract terms.
3
Evaluate the answer choices against the analyst's abstracted method.
The analyst does not attack the original premises, claim a formal logic flaw, or change the topic. Instead, the analyst shows how the physical implementation of the plan creates a new obstacle to the ultimate objective.
Matching the abstracted description to the specific argumentative moves made in the dialogue.

Key Concept

General Method of Reasoning
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

General Method of Reasoning

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