Critical Reasoning

Scientist: All other things being equal, the intensity of heat increases as the distance from the heat source decreases. Knowing this, most people conclude that the Earth's seasons are caused by the Earth's changing distance from the sun. In other words, winter occurs when the Earth is far from the sun, and summer occurs when the earth is close to the sun. However, we know that as North America experiences summer, South America experiences winter, even though the difference in the continents' distance to the sun is negligible. Therefore, the earth's changing distance from the sun does not cause the seasons.

In the argument, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?


1)The first describes a belief to which the scientist subscribes; the second is evidence in support of this belief.


2)The first describes a common belief that the scientist later deems to be ill conceived; the second is evidence against this belief.


3)The first is a statement presented in support of the scientist's final conclusion; the second is the scientist's conclusion.


4)The first describes a commonly held belief that is contrary to the scientist's final conclusion; the second is evidence in support of this belief.


5)The first describes a common belief that follows logically from the statement before it; the second is factual information that the scientist deems to be irrelevant to her argument.