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Author takes someting for granted

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by nonameee » Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:24 pm
Most people believe that yawning is most powerfully triggered by seeing someone else yawn. This belief about yawning is widespread not only today, but also has been commonplace in many parts of the world in the past, if we are to believe historians of popular culture. Thus, seeing someone else yawn must be the most irresistible cause of yawning.

The argument is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?

(A) It attempts to support its conclusion solely by restating that conclusion in other words.
(B) It cites the evidence of historians of popular culture in direct support of a claim that lies outside their area of expertise.
(C) It makes a sweeping generalization about yawning based on evidence drawn from a limited number of atypical cases.
(D) It supports its conclusion by appealing solely to opinion in a matter that is largely factual.
(E) It takes for granted that yawns have no cause other than the one it cites.

OA: D
Source: LSAT
My question is more of a general kind (I just wanted to illustrate it with an example): In general, can the author of a CR argument take for granted whatever he wants? If so, does it mean that the answer (D) will always be wrong?

Thank you.
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |
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by avik.ch » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:05 am
Most people believe that yawning is most powerfully triggered by seeing someone else yawn. - fact
This belief about yawning is widespread not only today, but also has been commonplace in many parts of the world in the past, if we are to believe historians of popular culture. - fact
Thus, seeing someone else yawn must be the most irresistible cause of yawning. - conclusion.

This is a typical logical fallacy --- cause and effect.

Consider this :

I believe that increase in age led to a decrease in vision.

Conclusion : cause ( increase in age )------------> effect (decrease in vision)

This is a wrong conclusion. There may be some other factor for the effect or it may be that both are completely separate events.

So here the conclusion is based on the facts that people believe. We cannot draw causality between this two from what people believe. D exactly states this.

Hope this helps !!
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:04 am
nonameee wrote:
Most people believe that yawning is most powerfully triggered by seeing someone else yawn. This belief about yawning is widespread not only today, but also has been commonplace in many parts of the world in the past, if we are to believe historians of popular culture. Thus, seeing someone else yawn must be the most irresistible cause of yawning.

The argument is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?

(A) It attempts to support its conclusion solely by restating that conclusion in other words.
(B) It cites the evidence of historians of popular culture in direct support of a claim that lies outside their area of expertise.
(C) It makes a sweeping generalization about yawning based on evidence drawn from a limited number of atypical cases.
(D) It supports its conclusion by appealing solely to opinion in a matter that is largely factual.
(E) It takes for granted that yawns have no cause other than the one it cites.

OA: D
Source: LSAT
My question is more of a general kind (I just wanted to illustrate it with an example): In general, can the author of a CR argument take for granted whatever he wants? If so, does it mean that the answer (D) will always be wrong?

Thank you.
The very nature of most CRs is that something is taken for granted: a presumed LINK between the premises and the conclusion.
It is for this reason that most CRs are FLAWED.

Here, the author assumes a link between what people BELIEVE and what is actually TRUE.
Answer choice D describes the flaw in the reasoning: the passage supports its conclusion by appealing solely to opinion in a matter that is largely factual.
Instead of supporting the conclusion with FACTS, the passage offers only BELIEFS.
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by nonameee » Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:48 pm
The very nature of most CRs is that something is taken for granted: a presumed LINK between the premises and the conclusion.
It is for this reason that most CRs are FLAWED.
But does it mean that answer choices that say: "It takes something for granted" (as in choice E) will always be wrong?

I've done a little research (mostly LSAT problems), and come to a conclusion that it's not always so. I'd like to confirm that.
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