Summarize Argument
Jackie will like The Cruel Herd’s new album. This is because she likes Moral Vacuum’s music, and The Cruel Herd’s new album sounds similar musically and lyrically.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the differences between Moral Vacuum and The Cruel Herd’s music are insignificant. She assumes that the similarities alone are enough to confidently assert that Jackie will like The Cruel Herd’s new album.
A
Jackie has not previously cared for The Cruel Herd, but on the new album The Cruel Herd’s previous musical arranger has been replaced by Moral Vacuum’s musical arranger.
This strengthens the argument. It addresses potential weaknesses—that the similarities may not outweigh the differences—by suggesting that a key difference may have been changed to a similarity, as the two bands now share a musical arranger.
B
Though The Cruel Herd’s previous albums’ production quality was not great, the new album is produced by one of the most widely employed producers in the music industry.
This does not affect the argument. The argument is based on the similarities between Moral Vacuum and The Cruel Herd—the argument is not about whether the latter band’s music is objectively good, but whether Jackie, due to her inclination to similar music, will enjoy it.
C
Like Moral Vacuum, The Cruel Herd regularly performs in clubs popular with many students at the university that Jackie attends.
This does not affect the argument. There is no reason to believe that Jackie will enjoy The Cruel Herd’s music more because, like Moral Vacuum, it performs at a club her peers attend. Jackie may never even have been to this club.
D
All of the music that Jackie prefers to listen to on a regular basis is rock music.
This does not affect the argument. Jackie can only listen to rock music and still not like The Cruel Herd—liking rock music does not mean she likes all rock music. Maybe she only likes and listens to Moral Vacuum’s music and no other rock artists!
E
Jackie’s favorite Moral Vacuum songs have lyrics that are somber and marked by a strong political awareness.
This weakens the argument. It weakens the premise that draws similarities between some of the two bands’ lyrics, noting that they are both witty. If Jackie prefers the songs that are not witty, she may not be inclined to enjoy The Cruel Herd’s lyrics.
Summary
The stimulus can be diagrammed as follows:
Notable Valid Inferences
A superconductor cannot be economically feasible. Two necessary conditions of an economically feasible superconductor are that it superconducts at or above -148 degrees Celsius, and that it superconducts no higher than -160 degrees Celsius. These two necessary conditions contradict each other, so we can never have an economically feasible superconductor.
A
The use of superconductors will never be economically feasible.
This must be true. As shown in the conditional chain, the sufficient condition of an economically feasible superconductor triggers two contradictory necessary conditions, so we can never fulfill the sufficient condition.
B
If the alloys of niobium and germanium do not superconduct at temperatures above minus 148 degrees Celsius, then there are other substances that will do so.
This could be false. The stimulus does not provide any information about other substances and their capabilities to superconduct.
C
The use of superconductors could be economically feasible if there is a substance that superconducts at temperatures below minus 148 degrees Celsius.
This could be false. (C) can be diagrammed as “There is a substance that superconducts at temperatures below -140 degrees Celsius→ use of superconductors is economically feasible.” This is not consistent with our diagram.
D
Alloys of niobium and germanium do not superconduct at temperatures below minus 160 degrees Celsius.
This must be false. We know that alloys of niobium and germanium superconduct at temperatures no higher than -160 degrees Celsius.
E
No use of alloys of niobium and germanium will ever be economically feasible.
This could be false. We only discuss alloys of niobium and germanium with regards to their potential use as superconductors; we don’t have any information about potential other uses.