Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: Because political pressure makes environmental reports unreliable, a politician argues that a new health department shouldn't release health reports since it will face the same kind of pressure.

Conclusion: The new Ministry of Health should refrain from issuing scientific assessments related to health.

Reasoning: Political pressure makes the Environment Ministry's assessments inaccurate, and the Ministry of Health will face similar pressures.

Analysis: The politician is moving from a factual observation about political pressure to a normative 'should' statement about policy. To justify this jump, we need a principle that connects the risk of inaccuracy to a prohibition on publishing. Look for an answer that establishes a rule: if an agency's output is likely to be compromised or made inaccurate by political pressure, that agency should not produce that output at all.

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20.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, would most help to justify the politician's argument?

Correct Answer
B
It provides the needed policy link: unless a ministry has very strong reason to believe its assessments are accurate, it should not issue them. Combined with the concern that political pressure undermines accuracy, this justifies the conclusion.
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