Tüm alıştırma soruları

City Council Member: Last month, we installed a new, synchronized traffic light system at the Oak Street intersection. This month, the number of traffic accidents at that intersection dropped by 30% compared to the previous month. Therefore, the new traffic light system has clearly improved safety by reducing accidents at the Oak Street intersection.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the city council member's argument?

Match each flawed argument scenario on the left with the abstract description of its specific sampling or survey flaw on the right.

An urban planner argues: 'Last year, our city installed a new smart traffic light network at ten major intersections. Over the past twelve months, traffic accidents at these specific intersections decreased by 30%. Therefore, the new smart traffic lights directly caused this significant reduction in accidents.'

Match each potential alternate explanation (objection) on the left with the specific defender assumption on the right that the urban planner must rely on to neutralize that threat to the causal claim.

A multi-decade study of the Silver-tufted Macaque, a primate species inhabiting both dense rainforests and newly established agricultural plantations, revealed a striking trend: macaques living in the plantation zones exhibit significantly lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than their rainforest counterparts. The researchers noted that plantation environments lack the large arboreal predators common in the rainforest. Therefore, the reduced presence of these natural predators in the plantations has caused the lower cortisol levels observed in the plantation macaques.

Which one of the following is an assumption upon which the argument depends?

A computer scientist argues: 'Our new AI model utilizes unsupervised learning on completely unstructured data. Therefore, the model will inevitably produce novel artistic expressions.' To strictly guarantee this conclusion from the premise, a continuous chain of conditional assumptions must be established. Arrange the following assumptions in the correct logical sequence to form a valid sufficient bridge connecting the explicit premise to the main conclusion.

Factory Safety Director: Last year, 85 percent of the reported injuries at our manufacturing plant happened during the morning shift, whereas only 15 percent occurred during the evening shift. It is clear from this data that our morning shift operations are inherently more hazardous than our evening shift operations.

Which of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the Factory Safety Director's reasoning?

Linguist: Tarania's indigenous language features a complex tonal system, structurally identical to mainland languages 2,000 miles away, but unlike the non-tonal languages of neighboring islands. Anthropologists argue this tonal system evolved independently due to similar acoustic environments between Tarania and the mainland. However, geological records prove Tarania's environment has always resembled its non-tonal neighbors, not the mainland. Therefore, Tarania's tonal system must have been introduced by ancient mainland settlers who migrated to the island.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the linguist's conclusion?

Neurobiologist: The presence of synchronous gamma-band oscillations in any neural architecture—whether organic or synthetic—is sufficient to demonstrate the integration of sensory modalities across distinct cortical zones. Such cortical integration invariably engenders a subjective conscious state, provided the system is not subjected to pharmacological suppression, such as general anesthesia. The synthetic biological processor recently engineered at the institute clearly displays synchronous gamma-band activity. Furthermore, due to its non-organic substrate, this processor is entirely impervious to pharmacological suppression. We can therefore conclude with certainty that the processor possesses genuine self-reflective awareness.

Which one of the following, if assumed, enables the conclusion to be properly drawn?

Sociologists observe that only those institutions characterized by transparent governance are capable of fostering long-term community trust. However, any institution heavily reliant on algorithmic decision-making inevitably obscures its internal mechanisms, thereby precluding transparent governance. Because modern decentralized financial networks represent the vanguard of institutional innovation, it is evident that these networks will ultimately fail to foster long-term community trust.

Which one of the following, if assumed, enables the conclusion to be properly drawn?

Last year, the city of Oakhaven implemented a strict water conservation program. In response, residents successfully reduced their average daily water usage by 20 percent per person. Surprisingly, despite this widespread compliance among residents, Oakhaven's total municipal water consumption was actually higher last year than it was the year before the program began.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?

City official: To reduce traffic congestion downtown, we should build a new subway line connecting the suburbs to the city center. A recent survey showed that 70 percent of suburban commuters would take the subway if it were available.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the city official's argument depends?

Below are four distinct arguments that conclude a causal relationship based on observed evidence. For each argument, identify the specific logical gap it leaves open by matching it to the core assumption necessary to bridge that gap.

University Administrator: To assess whether the 'Skills-First' curriculum implemented three years ago has adequately prepared our students for the workforce, we evaluated feedback from recent alumni. Questionnaires were sent to all graduates from the past three years who currently maintain active memberships in the university's philanthropy network. Over 80 percent of the respondents indicated that they are excelling in their careers and credited the curriculum for their achievements. This clearly demonstrates that the new curriculum successfully prepares our students for professional success.

The reasoning in the university administrator's argument is flawed in that the argument

Historian: In the seventeenth-century town of Oakhaven, merchant records show a sudden surge in the importation of foreign spices immediately following a prolonged period of severe drought. Some scholars argue this indicates that the town's elite significantly increased their wealth during the drought. However, it is more likely that the drought destroyed local herb crops, forcing residents to rely heavily on imported spices for basic food preservation. Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the historian's argument?

A municipality recently implemented a comprehensive ban on single-use plastic grocery bags with the stated goal of reducing the total volume of plastic waste generated by its residents. However, municipal data revealed that the city's total plastic waste actually increased significantly in the year following the implementation of the ban. The discovery that residents began purchasing thick, heavy-duty plastic trash liners—which use far more plastic per unit—to replace the free grocery bags they had previously reused for their household garbage effectively resolves this apparent discrepancy.

Argument: A recent study observed that individuals who consume green tea daily are significantly less likely to contract the common cold compared to those who do not drink green tea. The researchers concluded that specific antioxidants in green tea actively strengthen the immune system against cold viruses.

Statement: The new evidence that individuals who drink green tea daily are also much more likely to practice rigorous hand hygiene and avoid crowded places during cold season weakens the researchers' conclusion.

Linguist: To completely understand a newly discovered language, researchers must be able to accurately translate its idiomatic expressions. However, the idioms of any language are deeply rooted in the unique historical experiences of the culture that speaks it. Since the historical experiences of the recently contacted Zephyrian culture are entirely undocumented and inaccessible to outsiders, researchers will never be able to completely understand the Zephyrian language.

Evaluate whether the following statement is true or false:
The linguist's argument logically depends on the assumption that researchers cannot accurately translate a language's idiomatic expressions without having access to the unique historical experiences of the culture that speaks it.

Read the argument below.

Macroeconomist: A transition to a purely fiat currency system invariably destabilizes a nation's financial foundation. Such a monetary shift is inevitably ruinous because severing a currency's tie to tangible assets and relying entirely on government decree fundamentally undermines the long-term economic stability of the state. Hence, adopting a currency without intrinsic value guarantees financial destabilization.

Is it true or false that the macroeconomist's argument commits the logical flaw of circular reasoning by relying on a premise that merely assumes what it sets out to establish?

Ornithologist: Ten years ago, our city implemented a 'Dark Sky' ordinance to reduce nighttime light pollution, which disorients migrating warblers and causes fatal building collisions. Since then, the population of warblers migrating through the city has continued to decline. Critics claim the ordinance failed to protect the birds. However, this is unwarranted. The continued decline is actually caused by the recent, rapid deforestation of the warblers' southern wintering grounds.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to strengthen the ornithologist's argument?

Review the following short arguments, each of which contains a reasoning flaw related to time shifts. Match each argument to the description that most accurately identifies its specific temporal fallacy.