Mimic the argument

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Mimic the argument

by neeti2711 » Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:26 am
Once people habitually engaged in conversation, now the television competes for their attention. When the television is on, communication between family members stops. Where there is no communication, family ties become frayed and eventually snap. Therefore, the only solution is to get rid of the television.

Which one of the following is most closely parallel in its reasoning to the flawed reasoning in the argument above?

(A) Once friendships thrived on shared leisure time. But contemporary economic pressures minimize the amount of free time people have and thus jeopardize many friendships.
(B) Once people listened to the radio while pursuing other activities. Now they passively watch television. Therefore, radio was less distracting for most people than television is.
(C) Once sports enthusiasts regularly engaged in sports, but now they watch spectator sports when they could be getting physical exercise. Without physical exercise, health deteriorates. Therefore, the only remedy is to eliminate spectator sports.
(D) Once people were willing to tailor their day to the constraints of a bus or train schedule: now they are spoiled by the private car. The only solution is for government to offer financial incentives to encourage the use of public transportation.
(E) Once people did their shopping in urban retail districts, where they combined their shopping with other errands. Now many people shop in suburban malls, where they concentrate on shopping exclusively. Therefore, shopping has become a leisure time activity.

OA: C

Please suggest a way to rephrase the argument and then answer it.

Source: Aristotle Prep CR

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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Thu Mar 02, 2017 7:50 am
neeti2711 wrote:Once people habitually engaged in conversation, now the television competes for their attention. When the television is on, communication between family members stops. Where there is no communication, family ties become frayed and eventually snap. Therefore, the only solution is to get rid of the television.

Which one of the following is most closely parallel in its reasoning to the flawed reasoning in the argument above?

(A) Once friendships thrived on shared leisure time. But contemporary economic pressures minimize the amount of free time people have and thus jeopardize many friendships.
(B) Once people listened to the radio while pursuing other activities. Now they passively watch television. Therefore, radio was less distracting for most people than television is.
(C) Once sports enthusiasts regularly engaged in sports, but now they watch spectator sports when they could be getting physical exercise. Without physical exercise, health deteriorates. Therefore, the only remedy is to eliminate spectator sports.
(D) Once people were willing to tailor their day to the constraints of a bus or train schedule: now they are spoiled by the private car. The only solution is for government to offer financial incentives to encourage the use of public transportation.
(E) Once people did their shopping in urban retail districts, where they combined their shopping with other errands. Now many people shop in suburban malls, where they concentrate on shopping exclusively. Therefore, shopping has become a leisure time activity.

OA: C

Please suggest a way to rephrase the argument and then answer it.

Source: Aristotle Prep CR
Start by making the structure of the argument as general as you can.

People used to do x.
y came alone and caused people to stop doing x.
The only solution is to get rid of y.

So let's the logic we're trying to duplicate. There was some kind of good behavior. An obstacle put a stop to that behavior. We must get rid of this obstacle.

This is exactly what C does.

People used to do x. [exercise/play sports]
y [spectator sports] came alone and caused people to stop doing x [exercise/play sports.]
So we must rid of y [spectator sports.]
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by neeti2711 » Fri Mar 03, 2017 12:11 am
Thank you David!

Can we say that A is incorrect because it ends abruptly without any suggestion or solution? Otherwise half of A is correct I think. A partially mimics the argument. I am asking this to know whether my process of mimicking is on the right track..

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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:53 am
neeti2711 wrote:Thank you David!

Can we say that A is incorrect because it ends abruptly without any suggestion or solution? Otherwise half of A is correct I think. A partially mimics the argument. I am asking this to know whether my process of mimicking is on the right track..
A is putting a toe in the water of the logic of the original argument, and you're definitely correct that to properly mimic the argument, an answer choice must propose eliminating the obstacle in question, but even the early portion of A doesn't quite do what we need it to do. Look at the first sentence: "Once friendships thrived on shared leisure time." This isn't really an action that people are performing. Rather, it's a characterization of friendship. Note the superficial link the question-writer is trying to draw here. The argument itself discusses conversation. 'A' discusses friendship. We engage in conversation with our friends, right? But, of course, the logic is different, as the argument involves an action that people do less of, not a description of some phenomenon that could be threatened. A would have been closer if it had begun with "people once spent a lot of time doing x with friends. Now they do y..."
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