Match each flawed argument excerpt with the abstract description that most accurately identifies its primary reasoning vulnerability.
- Every member of the university's macroeconomic advisory panel possesses exceptional expertise in analyzing regional trade dynamics. Therefore, the macroeconomic advisory panel as a unified body will inevitably formulate an exceptionally comprehensive national fiscal strategy.Infers that a collective whole must possess a specific attribute merely because each of its individual constituent parts possesses that attribute.
- Over the past decade, maritime shipping firms that adopted digital inventory tracking systems consistently reported higher annual revenue margins than those relying on manual logging. Thus, adopting digital tracking systems directly caused these firms' profit growth.Mistakes a consistent correlation between two phenomena for conclusive evidence of a direct causal relationship between them.
- A recent survey of attendees exiting an annual commercial aviation exposition revealed that 85 percent favor eliminating federal subsidies for intercity passenger rail. Hence, a substantial majority of the national electorate opposes government funding for passenger trains.Generalizes a conclusion about an entire population based on a sample that is demonstrably unrepresentative of that broader group.
- The regional transit authority must either authorize an immediate across-the-board fare increase or permanently terminate late-night service routes. Because the public overwhelmingly opposes route reductions, the authority must implement the fare increase.Presumes without justification that only two exhaustive alternatives exist when other viable courses of action may be available.
Answer
The macroeconomic advisory panel excerpt matches the fallacy of composition (part-to-whole error); the maritime shipping excerpt matches mistaking correlation for causation; the aviation exposition survey excerpt matches generalizing from an unrepresentative sample; and the regional transit authority excerpt matches creating a false dilemma.
Each argument excerpt exemplifies a classic logical fallacy accurately described by its matched pair: transferring individual panelist traits to the group as a whole represents a part-to-whole flaw; attributing profit increases solely to software adoption based on statistical co-occurrence represents a correlation-causation error; generalizing from commercial aviation attendees to the nationwide electorate represents an unrepresentative sample; and restricting fiscal choices to only two extreme outcomes represents a false dichotomy.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Identification and abstract classification of informal logical flaws