Argument by Analogy

Architectural conservators have learned that applying rigid, modern synthetic resins to consolidate crumbling ancient stone masonry often accelerates the structure's destruction. The rigid resin prevents the natural stone from 'breathing,' causing trapped moisture to expand during temperature changes and shatter the stone. Similarly, when a multinational corporation acquires a struggling local business, imposing rigid, standardized corporate procedures on the local branch will likely accelerate its financial collapse.

Therefore, multinational corporations should refrain from imposing standardized procedures on the local businesses they acquire.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?

Economist: Software developers routinely release preliminary versions of their applications to a restricted user base. This practice allows developers to identify unforeseen design flaws through actual user testing before a general release. Analogously, the central government should implement its proposed comprehensive corporate tax overhaul in just two mid-sized provinces first. Doing so would allow policymakers to observe real-world economic impacts and correct any legislative flaws before applying the new tax code nationwide.

The economist's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it

City Council Member: To reduce the alarming rate of bicycle thefts in our city, we should implement a mandatory bicycle registration program, much like our existing automobile registration system. Our automobile registration requires owners to display visible plates and maintains easily traceable records in a central database; this system has made stealing cars incredibly difficult and risky. Similarly, requiring visible registration tags and maintaining a database of bicycle owners will effectively deter bicycle thieves.

Which of the following, if true, points out the most serious weakness in the city council member's argument?

Philosopher: Evaluating a literary work by examining the moral character of its author is as absurd as evaluating a mathematical proof by examining the moral character of the mathematician who derived it. A mathematical proof's validity relies entirely on its internal logical coherence, which is independent of the mathematician's personal virtues. Therefore, the aesthetic merit of a literary work must similarly be assessed independently of the author's personal character.

Which one of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the philosopher's argument?

Ethicist: In emergency medical triage, doctors correctly prioritize patients who can benefit most from immediate intervention over those with more severe but largely untreatable conditions. This protocol is justified because the overarching goal is maximizing overall survival given strictly limited resources. Similarly, when a government allocates its limited environmental conservation budget, it ought to direct funding primarily toward moderately degraded ecosystems that are highly recoverable, rather than exhausting resources on ecosystems that are on the verge of total, irreversible collapse.

Which of the following statements, if true, identify relevant points of disanalogy that undermine the ethicist's argument? (Select all that apply.)

Read the following argument carefully.

Policy Analyst: When commercial aviation was in its infancy, government regulators did not impose strict, comprehensive safety standards immediately; instead, they allowed the industry room to experiment, stepping in with rigid regulations only after the technology had matured and common risks were well understood. Therefore, in our current approach to regulating autonomous vehicles, we should similarly avoid enacting comprehensive safety mandates too early. Premature regulation will only stifle innovation in autonomous driving before we fully understand its capabilities and risks.

Match each structural component of this argument by analogy (on the left) to its corresponding specific concept or statement from the text (on the right).

Read the following argument carefully.

Information Scientist: Physical museums routinely deaccession—sell or discard—artifacts that are highly redundant or severely degraded. They do this to dedicate their finite storage and maintenance budgets to preserving the most culturally significant pieces. Attempting to preserve every single physical artifact inevitably leads to a degradation in the quality of care for truly important pieces. By the exact same logic, national data centers should implement automated deletion protocols for redundant or corrupted digital records. Attempting to save every byte of data will similarly compromise our ability to secure and maintain critical digital infrastructure.

Which of the following, if true, represent valid points of disanalogy that weaken the information scientist's argument? (Select all that apply)

City X successfully reduced traffic congestion by implementing a toll for drivers entering the city center during rush hour. City Y, which is currently facing severe traffic congestion, should therefore also implement a downtown rush hour toll to solve its traffic problem.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?

Read the following argument carefully.

In evolutionary biology, 'convergent evolution' occurs when distantly related lineages independently develop analogous structures to adapt to parallel environmental selective pressures—for instance, the hydrodynamic, streamlined morphologies of both cetaceans (mammals) and chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fishes). These physiological traits do not emanate from a recent shared genetic lineage, but rather from a shared imperative to overcome identical fluid dynamic constraints. A strictly isomorphic phenomenon is observable in the contemporary software industry regarding the user experience architectures of enterprise productivity suites. Despite being architected upon fundamentally incompatible legacy codebases and engineered by antagonistic corporate entities devoid of shared intellectual property, the graphical interfaces of elite word processors and financial modeling software have converged upon a nearly indistinguishable topology. Just as fluid dynamic realities compel biological morphological uniformity, the immutable cognitive bandwidth limits of human users and the relentless market mandate for frictionless cross-application interoperability have compelled an architectural homogeneity upon these disparate digital tools.

Based on the argument by analogy presented above, match each element from the target domain (the software industry) with its exact structural equivalent in the base domain (evolutionary biology).

Museum Director: In art conservation, we frequently strip away the dull patina that accumulates on ancient bronze statues over centuries. This practice is entirely justified, as removing this later accumulation reveals the gleaming metal underneath, thereby allowing modern viewers to experience the sculpture's appearance exactly as the original artist intended. By this exact same logic, literary translators producing modern editions of ancient epic poetry should aggressively replace the poems' archaic, obsolete vocabulary with contemporary street slang. Just as removing the patina restores the visual impact of the statue, modernizing the vocabulary restores the visceral, immediate emotional impact the poem had on its original listeners.

Which one of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the museum director's reasoning?

Read the philosopher's argument below carefully.

Philosopher: Proponents of strict bio-conservation argue that we have a moral duty to prevent the extinction of any currently existing species, as each species represents a unique, irreplaceable thread in the ecological tapestry. However, this is like arguing that a library must preserve every single manuscript ever written, regardless of its quality or the cost of preservation. Just as a library with finite space and resources must curate its collection, prioritizing works of significant historical or literary value to maintain a functional and useful institution, environmental policymakers, possessing limited resources, must prioritize the preservation of keystone species that are crucial for the stability of the entire ecosystem, rather than attempting to save every single species indiscriminately.

Match the components of the philosopher's library analogy (the base case) with their structural counterparts in the argument regarding bio-conservation (the target case).

Financial Advisor: Our city will soon replace its tiered residential property tax system with a single flat-rate residential property tax. Ten years ago, the neighboring municipality of Mapleton replaced its tiered commercial tax system with a flat commercial tax. Following that change, Mapleton saw a dramatic reduction in administrative costs and a surge in new commercial investments. Therefore, adopting a flat residential property tax in our city will similarly reduce administrative costs and spur new residential investments.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the financial advisor's argument?

Policy Analyst: The extraction of minerals from the deep seabed in international waters is effectively governed by a centralized international tribunal that mandates strict environmental protection protocols and redistributes a portion of all profits to developing nations. If we want to ensure the environmentally safe and globally equitable development of asteroid mining, we must establish a comparable international tribunal to issue licenses, enforce environmental standards, and distribute a share of the profits.

Which of the following statements, if true, identify relevant points of disanalogy between asteroid mining and deep-sea mining that logically weaken the analyst's argument? Select all that apply.