For each of the arguments below, identify the assumption that strictly guarantees its conclusion. Pair each logical argument (left) with its corresponding sufficient assumption (right).
- Premise: Mitigation of the current structural deficit is achievable only if a policy stimulates emerging export markets. The newly implemented tariff regime severely restricts bilateral trade agreements.
Conclusion: The new tariff regime will fail to mitigate the current structural deficit.No economic policy that severely restricts bilateral trade agreements is capable of stimulating emerging export markets. - Premise: A normative framework possesses practical viability only when it provides unambiguous behavioral directives during moral crises. Virtue ethics is fundamentally predicated upon the subjective interpretation of an agent's character.
Conclusion: Virtue ethics lacks practical viability as a normative framework.Any framework fundamentally predicated upon the subjective interpretation of an agent's character is unable to provide unambiguous behavioral directives during moral crises. - Premise: To classify a behavioral trait as a primary evolutionary adaptation, the trait must have demonstrably augmented reproductive fitness during the Pleistocene epoch. Widespread human altruism toward out-group members often endangers the survival of the altruist.
Conclusion: Widespread human altruism toward out-group members cannot be classified as a primary evolutionary adaptation.Traits that often endanger the survival of the individuals exhibiting them could not have demonstrably augmented reproductive fitness during the Pleistocene epoch. - Premise: An archaeological artifact retains definitive historical utility if and only if its precise chronological origin can be verified through radio-isotopic dating. The recently unearthed Sumerian tablets were subjected to heavy contamination by modern groundwater.
Conclusion: The recently unearthed Sumerian tablets have lost their definitive historical utility.Artifacts that have been subjected to heavy contamination by modern groundwater cannot have their precise chronological origins verified through radio-isotopic dating.
Answer
The policy argument matches the trade restriction assumption; the ethics argument matches the subjective interpretation assumption; the biology argument matches the survival endangerment assumption; and the history argument matches the groundwater contamination assumption.
Each correct pairing provides the exact conditional bridge necessary to trigger the contrapositive of the first premise. For example, in the policy argument, mitigating the deficit requires stimulating export markets. Since the tariff restricts trade, we must assume that restricting trade PREVENTS stimulating export markets. This triggers the failure condition, guaranteeing the conclusion that the deficit cannot be mitigated.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Identifying sufficient assumptions via contrapositive deductive closures in formal logic.
Estimated Time:2m 30s