Roger: Reading a lot as a child causes nearsightedness-difficulty seeing things at a distance.
Louise: I disagree. Any correlation between nearsightedness and reading results from the fact that children who have trouble seeing things at a distance are likeliest to prefer those activities, such as reading, that involve looking at things close up.
Louise disputes Roger's claim by
Louise: I disagree. Any correlation between nearsightedness and reading results from the fact that children who have trouble seeing things at a distance are likeliest to prefer those activities, such as reading, that involve looking at things close up.
Louise disputes Roger's claim by
Show Hint
- demonstrating that an absurd conclusion would follow if Roger's claim were accepted
- arguing that what Roger claims to be a cause of a given phenomenon is actually its effect
- using an analogy to expose a flaw in Roger's reasoning
- pointing out that Roger's claim is self-contradictory
- attempting to demonstrate that Roger uses the term" nearsightedness" in an ambiguous way
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
This question asks us to identify the logical strategy Louise uses to rebut Roger's argument. We need to analyze the relationship between their two causal claims.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
- Roger's Claim (Causation): Reading (Cause) \(\rightarrow\) Nearsightedness (Effect).
- Louise's Claim (Causation): Louise disagrees and proposes the opposite causal relationship. She argues that having a pre-existing condition, nearsightedness (Cause), makes a child prefer close-up activities like reading (Effect).
So, Louise has taken the two correlated elements, reading and nearsightedness, and reversed the cause-and-effect relationship that Roger proposed.
Let's analyze the options based on this understanding:
- (A) This describes a "reductio ad absurdum" argument, which Louise does not use.
- (B) This perfectly describes Louise's strategy. She argues that the proposed cause (reading) is actually the effect, and the proposed effect (nearsightedness) is actually the cause. This is a classic "reversal of cause and effect" argument.
- (C) Louise does not use an analogy.
- (D) Louise does not claim Roger's statement contradicts itself; she provides an alternative explanation.
- (E) Louise does not dispute the meaning of "nearsightedness."
Step 3: Final Answer:
Louise disputes Roger's claim by reversing the causal relationship he suggests.
Top Questions on Logical Reasoning
Disregard commonly known facts. Which conclusion would follow on the basis of given statements only?
Statement (I): Some bottles are car. Some cars are cycle.
Conclusion: \[\begin{array}{rl} \bullet & \text{[(I)] Some bottles are cycle is a possibility.} \\ \bullet & \text{[(II)] All bottles are cycle.} \\ \end{array}\]
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Statement (II): C is shorter than A and A is shorter than E.- CUET (PG) - 2025
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Statement (I): Only three boxes are kept above D and only one box is kept between D and Q. Q is kept lower than D and is immediately below P.
Statement (II): Only one box is kept between A and C. C is kept three boxes above Q. As many boxes are kept above B as are kept below R.- CUET (PG) - 2025
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Questions Asked in GRE exam
In early-twentieth-century England, it was fashionable to claim that only a completely new style of writing could address a world undergoing unprecedented transformation — just as one literary critic recently claimed that only the new ”aesthetic of exploratory excess” can address a world undergoing . . . well, you know. Yet in early-twentieth-century England, T. S. Eliot, a man fascinated by the ”presence” of the past, wrote the most innovative poetry of his time. The lesson for today’s literary community seems obvious: a reorientation toward tradition would benefit writers no less than readers. But if our writers and critics indeed respect the novel’s rich tradition (as they claim to), then why do they disdain the urge to tell an exciting story?
- GRE - 2024
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