Q12. - Betty uses which one of the following

[Mab6q]

I thought I'd do a quick explanation for this one since no one else has.

Alan tells us:

erosion controlled --> techniques --> farmers need help paying for them (subsidies)

Conclusion: Prevent agricultural decline --> subsidies.

Betty says hold up.

The root cause of the erosion is the floods, which will end after we get this dam built.

Thus, the output will stabilize without the subsidies.

This is a method question so we are looking at the reasoning strategy Betty uses to arrive at her conclusion. As always, we want to work from wrong to right with the answer choices.

A. she does not point out an internal contradiction.

B. Correct. The premise in Alan's argument that she undermines is the claim that erosion can't be controlled without the techniques, arguing that getting rid of cause (floods) once the dam is built will suffice. Thus the techniques are not necessary.

C. no, Betty disagrees with Alan's conclusion.

D. she does not do any kind of cost-benefit analysis.

E. this might be tempting, but Alan does not focus on the cause of the issue, and Betty does not claim that he is mistaken in doing so.