Critical and tactical reasoning

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BTGmoderatorRO: Moderator; Posts: 772; Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 6:29 pmFollowed by: 6 members

by BTGmoderatorRO » Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:25 am

Researchers believe that we will ultimately be able to explain all "psychic" phenomena. Achieving this goal requires knowledge of how mental images are "sent" and "received" over distance and how senders and receivers interact at a biological level. At present, there is a substantial amount of fundamental knowledge about receiving images and sending images. Thus, as researchers claim, psychic phenomena will soon be explainable.

Which one of the following indicates an error in the reasons in the passage?
(A) The conclusion contradicts researchers.
(B) The passage fails to describe what is currently known about senders and receivers.
(C) The passage does not indicate that any knowledge has been achieved about how senders and receivers interact at a biological level.
(D) The argument does not indicate whether this information will be useful.
(E) The passage is not specific about what psychic phenomena are being researched.
oa c.

please, which approach can i use to get the correct answer?

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:25 am

EconomistGMATTutor: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 555; Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 4:18 pmFollowed by: 12 members; Thanked: 180 times

by EconomistGMATTutor » Wed Oct 18, 2017 9:10 am

The conclusion is "Thus, as researchers claim, psychic phenomena will soon be explainable." The first sentence is nearly identical to this -- it tells us that yes, this is what they believe. The last sentence concludes "they're right."

The evidence is that psychic phenomena will be explainable after two conditions are met: 1) knowledge of how mental images are "sent" and "received" over distance and 2) knowledge of how senders and receivers interact at a biological level. The passage then says that condition 1 has been met.

But what about condition 2? Was this condition met? Simply assuming that it was is a flaw. Choice C points this out.

Your approach of this question should be the same as for nearly every type of CR question. Identify the conclusion and the evidence, and then consider what assumptions are made. When looking for an existing flaw, look for unwarranted assumptions. There are other types of flaws, but unwarranted assumptions is a biggie.

I'm available for further help with this question.

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