PT 51, S3, Q22 - Food that is very high in fat tends to be

[dj_grey]

I know the answer is either B or D. I think the answer is B but my reasoning is not sound. My reason for choosing B has more to do with NOT choosing D than choosing B because it matches.

Could someone diagram this out. I have a really hard time with these type of questions. Can anyone provide some insight in to how to deal with them?

[noah]

What do you think the flaw in the argument is?

[dj_grey]

To be honest i am not sure.

When i did this problem i came up with the following:

Note: ~ denotes "not"

FatFood --> ~healthy
Healthy --> ~Fatfood

Brownies --> ~Fatfood
Cookies --> Fatfood

I guess the flaw might be that Brownies are "healthy". But why?

[noah]

I don't think a diagram is really useful for this.

I'd probably boil this down to:
Things that are X tend to be Z.
Thing 1 is ~ X, but Thing 2 are X
Therefore: Thing 1 is more Z than Thing 2

[my apologies, Dr. Seuss]

To help you see the flaw, let me ask you this: So, given the information about the brownies, are you POSITIVE the fat-free brownies are healthier than the cookies? If not, why not?

(I think I was supposed to be a therapist; I seem to only answer questions with questions lately. )

[dj_grey]

Hi,

No i am not positive brownies are healthier.

Looking at just the statement. "Foods high in fat "tend" to be unhealthy". I guess that this means NOT ALL foods high in fat are unhealthy. So it is possible that the cookies although high in fat are not unhealthy.

[noah]

Right. Or, perhaps the fat-free brownies have arsenic. So, to summarize:

The argument boils down to this:

Things that are X tend to be Z.
Thing 1 is ~ X, but Thing 2 is X
Therefore: Thing 1 is more Z than Thing 2

The flaw is that we cannot say that the brownies are definitely healthier. For one, the premise states that they tend to be unhealthy, and we don't know anything about any other factors that contribute to the healthfulness of the food (i.e. how much lead is in the food).

(B) has the same flawed reasoning:

Things that are X tend to be Z. == Overcooked veggies tend to be low in vitamins.
Thing 1 is ~ X, but Thing 2 is X == Peas are not overcooked, but carrots are.
Therefore: Thing 1 is more Z than Thing 2 == So, carrots are lower in vitamins than peas.

(A) is immediately incorrect because of "always." Furthermore, it's a valid argument, not flawed.
(C) lacks a comparison of two things.
(D) starts out with some things correlating with something else, instead of stating that some things tend to correlate to something.
(E) is similar to (A) in that it's a valid argument.

Now tell me about your mother....