Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: Because every specific riot was started by someone, the author assumes one person must be behind every single riot that has ever happened.

Conclusion: A single individual is responsible for every instance of political unrest in the country.

Reasoning: In every individual instance of unrest, the police found that someone had organized it.

Analysis: This is a 'quantifier shift' error, often called the 'birthday fallacy.' Just because every person has a mother doesn't mean there is one woman who is the mother of every person. The premise establishes that for each event (A), there is an organizer (B). The conclusion incorrectly leaps to the idea that there is one organizer (B) for all events (A). To find the parallel, look for an argument that moves from 'each thing has its own cause' to 'one thing caused everything.' It's a classic case of over-centralizing responsibility where multiple independent actors are more likely.

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24.

The flawed reasoning in the argument above most closely parallels that in which one of the following?

Correct Answer
C
“Every citizen of Edmonton has a social insurance number, so there must be one number that is the social insurance number for all citizens of Edmonton.” This mirrors the same error: from each person having some number to one number shared by all.
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