Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: Food trucks are causing traffic jams in one neighborhood, so the city wants to ban them from parking at meters everywhere. A business owner argues this is overkill because the problem doesn't exist in most other parts of the city.

Conclusion: The city council should not pass the bill that would ban food trucks from parking in metered spots across all commercial zones.

Reasoning: The traffic and parking problems caused by food trucks are only happening in one specific section of the city, while most other areas have plenty of parking and no congestion.

Analysis: The business owner's logic rests on the idea that a solution should not be broader than the problem it aims to solve. To justify this conclusion, we need a principle that restricts the application of a law to only those areas where the problem actually exists. Look for a rule that says something like 'regulations should only be enacted in areas where the specific harm they address is actually occurring' or 'a city-wide ban is inappropriate if the issue is localized.'

Passage Stimulus

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19.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the business owner's argument?

Correct Answer
D
D directly connects the premises to the conclusion: if a law disadvantages a business type across the city, it shouldn’t be used to solve a problem that doesn’t affect most areas. That’s precisely the owner’s rationale for rejecting the citywide ban for a localized issue.
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