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Difficulty: EasyGeneral Method of Reasoning

Mayor: The city council has proposed increasing the parking fees downtown to generate more revenue for road repairs. However, this plan will fail. Higher parking fees will drive shoppers to suburban malls, leading to a decrease in downtown business. As a result, the city's sales tax revenue will drop by more than the parking fee revenue will increase.

Which one of the following most accurately describes the mayor's method of reasoning?

  1. A
    relying on evidence from analogous past situations to predict the outcome of a current proposal
  2. B
    criticizing the motives of the individuals who proposed the policy rather than addressing its actual effects
  3. rejecting a proposed course of action by arguing that its indirect consequences will undermine its primary objectiveAnswer
  4. D
    presenting a subsidiary claim about the negative effects of a policy as the main conclusion of the argument
  5. E
    using the background context of a problem as a premise to argue that the problem cannot be solved

Answer

The correct answer is the option stating that the argument rejects a proposed course of action by arguing that its indirect consequences will undermine its primary objective.
The mayor argues against the city council's proposal (increasing parking fees) by pointing out that the proposal will cause a chain of indirect economic effects (driving shoppers away, decreasing business) that will ultimately reduce total city revenue, completely undermining the proposal's original goal.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the argument's structure to identify the conclusion and premises.
Conclusion: The plan to increase parking fees to generate revenue will fail. Premises: Higher fees drive away shoppers, decreasing business and causing a drop in sales tax revenue that exceeds the new parking revenue.
Identifying the core structural elements is required to understand the author's overall argumentative strategy.
2
Identify the primary argumentative strategy used by the author.
The author is evaluating a proposed plan and arguing against it by showing that it will trigger a chain of events (indirect consequences) that defeat its original purpose (generating revenue).
Method of reasoning questions require summarizing the logical flow from premises to conclusion.
3
Evaluate the answer choices to find the one that accurately describes this strategy in abstract terms.
The option describing a rejection of a proposed course of action due to its indirect consequences undermining its primary objective matches the argument perfectly.
The correct answer must be an accurate, abstract description of the specific reasoning structure used in the stimulus.

Key Concept

General Method of Reasoning
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General Method of Reasoning

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