Q19 - Smith: Meat in the diet

[nmop_apisdn2]

This question is pretty straight-forward, but I think a lot of people get tripped up because they DONT READ ALL OF THE ANSWER CHOICES.

Yeah, I said it! READ ALL OF THE ANSWER CHOICES!

Okay, so right off the bat, a proactive test taker would say, "hey, this dude just appealed to authority! He said that meat has to be healthy because doctors eat meat too!" Easy enough, so lets move to the answer choices.

Oh yeah, READ ALL OF THE ANSWER CHOICES!

(A) is incorrect because no where in this argument is he attacking anyone, so BAM. OUT.
(B) is incorrect because no where in the argument is he making a generalized statement on the basis of atypical cases. If you thought to yourself that he was generalizing on atypical cases, then you must be will to say that doctors eating meat is an atypical case. HOWEVER, how would you know that doctors eating meat is atypical? You wouldn't. Therefore, since the stimulus has no information about what is typical, this answer choice is out.
(C) is incorrect because the argument does not assume what it sets out to establish; the conclusion does not reiterate the premise.
(D) is incorrect, and a very tempting answer because of our pre-phrase. However, if you pay close attention, you'll see that it says that different authorities are giving conflicting advice, BUT WE NEVER SEE ANY OTHER AUTHORITIES IN THE STIMULUS. For this reason, you can eliminate this answer choice.

This brings me to the point of this post which is to tell you, again, that you SHOULD BE READING ALL OF THE ANSWER CHOICES! Phew... I think my point has been made.

Lastly, (E) is the correct answer choice because this is the actual flaw in the argument; just because the doctors are actually eating the meat doesn't mean that its healthy in and of itself. We know of people doing things all of the time that they know has negative consequences, and the doctors in this instance, could be doing the same. Therefore, the argument takes for granted (assumes) that the experts don't do things that aren't in their best interest, i.e., eating meat if they knew it was unhealthy. People don't always act in accordance with that they know is best, and this is no exception for doctors.

[maryadkins]

Great post! Thanks for your explanation!