PrepTest 123, Section 3, Question 20
By Brandon Beaver | Published October 29, 2024
Type: Parallel Reasoning
Difficulty:
Explanations
Ah, an ad hominem attack (attacking the person making the argument, instead of the argument itself). The argument basically says, “we should do X, because people opposing X are big fat meanies who are against everything good in the world! Not doing X is what hurts all the good in the world!”
A
No ad hominem (personal attack) here, so this is out.
B
Same as A.
C
Yup, this is an ad hominem attack: You shouldn’t do X because people saying to do X are greedy and self-interested! This is a match, so this is the answer.
D
Still no ad hominem.
E
Same as A, B, and D. As it turns out, none of the wrong answers had anything close to a personal attack. If you recognized the ad hominem flaw in the original passage, then you should have smashed this question.
Passage
We should accept the proposal to demolish the old train station, because the local historical society, which vehemently opposes this, is dominated by people who have no commitment to long-term economic well-being. Preserving old buildings creates an impediment to new development, which is critical to economic health.
Question 20
The flawed reasoning exhibited by the argument above is most similar to that exhibited by which one of the following arguments?
Our country should attempt to safeguard works of art that it deems to possess national cultural significance. These works might not be recognized as such by all taxpayers, or even all critics. Nevertheless, our country ought to expend whatever money is needed to procure all such works as they become available.
Documents of importance to local heritage should be properly preserved and archived for the sake of future generations. For, if even one of these documents is damaged or lost, the integrity of the historical record as a whole will be damaged.
You should have your hair cut no more than once a month. After all, beauticians suggest that their customers have their hair cut twice a month, and they do this as a way of generating more business for themselves.
The committee should endorse the plan to postpone construction of the new expressway. Many residents of the neighborhoods that would be affected are fervently opposed to that construction, and the committee is obligated to avoid alienating those residents.
One should not borrow even small amounts of money unless it is absolutely necessary. Once one borrows a few dollars, the interest starts to accumulate. The longer one takes to repay, the more one ends up owing, and eventually a small debt has become a large one.