Flawed Parallel ReasoningDiff: Hardest
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: The author argues that diseases brought by humans couldn't have caused a massive multi-species extinction because no individual disease is deadly to 55 different species at once.
Conclusion: Human-borne diseases were likely not the cause of the mass extinction of large animals in Australia.
Reasoning: The extinction involved over 55 different species, and no single disease is capable of killing that many diverse types of animals.
Analysis: The flaw here is a grouping error: the author assumes that because no *single* disease could do the job, the *entire category* of human-borne diseases couldn't have done it. This ignores the possibility that humans brought a 'cocktail' of many different diseases that collectively wiped out the various species. To parallel this, look for an argument that concludes a group cannot achieve a result simply because no individual member of that group is capable of achieving it alone.
Conclusion: Human-borne diseases were likely not the cause of the mass extinction of large animals in Australia.
Reasoning: The extinction involved over 55 different species, and no single disease is capable of killing that many diverse types of animals.
Analysis: The flaw here is a grouping error: the author assumes that because no *single* disease could do the job, the *entire category* of human-borne diseases couldn't have done it. This ignores the possibility that humans brought a 'cocktail' of many different diseases that collectively wiped out the various species. To parallel this, look for an argument that concludes a group cannot achieve a result simply because no individual member of that group is capable of achieving it alone.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage21.Which one of the following arguments exhibits flawed reasoning that is most parallel to that in the argument above?
Correct Answer
B
B matches the flaw: it concludes the pair cannot repair the apartment because neither person alone can fix both the window and the door. That ignores the possibility that one fixes the window and the other fixes the door. Just like the stimulus ignores multiple diseases, this option ignores combined abilities.
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