Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: A commissioner claims they didn't rush a decision because they used a report they haven't actually finished reading, trusting it only because the group that wrote it was right about a jail project in the past.

Conclusion: The commissioner's decision regarding the power plant was not made prematurely.

Reasoning: The decision was based on a neighborhood association's report that the commissioner believes is accurate because they agreed with the association's previous recommendation on a different issue.

Analysis: The commissioner's argument is a masterclass in logical fallacies, making it easy to find criticisms. They admit to not studying the report thoroughly, they assume the report is accurate without evidence, and they use a 'past success' on an unrelated topic to justify current trust. Since we are looking for the criticism the argument is LEAST vulnerable to, we need to identify the one flaw the commissioner did not actually commit. Look for an answer choice that describes a logical error totally absent from this specific mess of an argument, such as a formal logic error or a confusion of 'some' and 'all.' It’s a bit like trying to find the one thing a toddler didn't break during a tantrum.

Passage Stimulus

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17.

The commissioner's argument is LEAST vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?

Correct Answer
B
The argument does not draw its conclusion about the association’s recommendations from incomplete recollections. The reference to the prior jail-relocation matter is a rhetorical add-on, not the evidential basis for the current conclusion, and there’s no sign the recollection is incomplete.
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