Architectural Historian: For a concert hall to achieve world-class acoustic warmth, it is necessary that its reverberation time exceeds 1.8 seconds and its interior surfaces incorporate irregular plaster ornamentation. The newly renovated St. Jude Auditorium has installed irregular plaster panels across all its interior walls, and recent acoustic tests measured its reverberation time at 2.0 seconds. Thus, the St. Jude Auditorium will undoubtedly achieve world-class acoustic warmth.
The reasoning in the architectural historian's argument is flawed because the argument
- Aquestions the accuracy of the acoustic tests without providing counter-evidence
- treats conditions that are required for producing an acoustic quality as if they are sufficient to guarantee itAnswer
- Cpresumes that because an auditorium possesses one desirable acoustic feature, all of its acoustic characteristics must be ideal
- Dinfers that acoustic warmth is achieved solely on the grounds that no negative acoustic feedback was reported
- Econfuses a claim used to support an intermediate conclusion with the main conclusion itself
Answer
The argument commits a flaw by treating conditions that are merely necessary for achieving acoustic warmth as though they were sufficient to guarantee that outcome.
The architectural historian explicitly states that a reverberation time over 1.8 seconds and irregular plaster surfaces are necessary prerequisites ('it is necessary that...') for world-class acoustic warmth. However, the conclusion asserts that satisfying these prerequisites guarantees ('will undoubtedly achieve') the outcome. This confuses a necessary condition with a sufficient condition.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Necessary vs. Sufficient Condition Confusion (Conditional Reversal)
Estimated Time:1m 15s