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Question

Difficulty: MediumPassage Assumptions and Underlying Premises

Read the following passage carefully:

"To achieve long-term municipal sustainability, several metropolitan local bodies have introduced mandatory decentralized community composting, requiring residential welfare associations to process organic waste on-site rather than transporting it to centralized landfills. Municipal administrators contend that this policy will substantially reduce city-wide garbage truck transit emissions and extend landfill lifespan. While urban planning critics argue that decentralized units frequently suffer operational breakdowns due to unsegregated municipal solid waste, city authorities maintain that localized processing remains the most viable long-term strategy for urban carbon reduction."

Statement: The author's position assumes that household-level waste segregation can be sufficiently achieved or enforced to prevent widespread operational failure of decentralized units.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is TRUE. The claim functions as a necessary underlying premise for the author's conclusion regarding the viability of decentralized composting.
The statement accurately identifies an essential unstated premise. The author defends decentralized composting as a viable long-term policy despite acknowledging operational failures caused by improper waste segregation. For the policy to be viable, the author must presuppose that household segregation can be successfully realized or enforced.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the author's core conclusion and counter-arguments in the passage.
The author concludes that mandatory localized composting is the most viable strategy for carbon reduction, despite critics noting operational failures caused by unsegregated waste.
Establishing the central claim helps isolate the underlying premise required to bridge the gap between the critics' objection and the author's conclusion.
2
Apply the Negation Test to the statement.
Negate the statement: 'Household-level waste segregation CANNOT be achieved or enforced to prevent operational failures.'
If the negated version is true, decentralized units will systematically fail due to unsegregated waste, making the policy unviable and undermining the author's main position.
3
Evaluate whether the statement is a required assumption.
Since the negated statement invalidates the author's conclusion, the un-negated statement is a necessary underlying assumption.
A claim is a necessary assumption if its falsity completely breaks the logical coherence of the author's main argument.

Key Concept

Necessary Underlying Assumption & Negation Test
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Topics

Passage Assumptions and Underlying Premises

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