Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: If a society cares mostly about money, it will fall apart into lonely groups. Since non-industrial societies don't care mostly about money, they must stay together.

Conclusion: Nonindustrial societies likely possess social unity because money is not their primary measure of value.

Reasoning: Societies that prioritize financial value always experience social fragmentation, and nonindustrial societies do not prioritize financial value.

Analysis: This argument commits a classic formal logic error known as 'denying the antecedent.' It assumes that because a specific cause (financial valuation) leads to a specific effect (fragmentation), the absence of that cause must result in the absence of that effect. To find the parallel, look for an answer choice that follows this 'If A, then B; Not A, therefore Not B' pattern. It is a common trap to think that removing a problem automatically guarantees a positive outcome.

Passage Stimulus

Passage Redacted

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23.

The flawed reasoning in which one of the following is most similar to that in the argument above?

Correct Answer
D
D mirrors the flaw: from “Poets frequently use nonliteral language,” it infers that because journalists are not poets, they always use literal language. That’s the same deny-the-antecedent/false dichotomy move as in the stimulus.
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