Lesson 4: Argument Reasoning – Assumptions

APPLICATION
Directiojns for questions 1 to 4: Read the given arguments and answer the following questions.

Exercise – 1

1 Companies in some countries try to gain legally from competition they face due to imports. They
claim damages suffered due to imports that benefit from subsidies from foreign countries.
Which of the following has been assumed if the above is true?
(a) A claim that an industry has been injured by imports is sufficient grounds to seek compensation
in the countries where such claims are made.
(b) Internationalization has increased international business.
(c) As the world is becoming a global market, more and more countries are trying to export their
goods.
(d) Foreign competitors have substantially affected the profits of local companies.

2. Several hospitals in Nicaragua are severely unhygienic, when it comes to Sanitary Standards;
although there are more than the required number of janitors, in almost all hospitals. This is leading
to a serious rate of infections, in patients recovering in the OPD wing of such hospitals.

Which of the following assumptions is implicit in the statements given above?

(a) Ideal Sanitary Standards are not easy to maintain.
(b) Lack of proper hygiene in a hospital leads to health problems for the patients.
(c) Janitors in Nicaraguan hospitals are all shirkers.
(d) The OPD wing of a hospital is highly susceptible to catching infections.

3. Shruti: Neha would not make an effective teacher. She is too lenient to fail students and too critical
to reward any student with good marks.

An assumption to the argument above is that

(a) effective teachers fail a certain percentage of their students and reward the rest with high marks.
(b) a teacher must be capable of either rewarding students with high marks or failing students in
order to be an effective teacher.
(c) it is impossible to fail a student and then later reward him with high marks.
(d) In order to fail or reward her students, Neha must be an effective teacher.

4. The present system of hiring as practised in the public sector companies has one obvious advantage:
it allows the managerial staff to hire people smarter than they are and yet remain secure in the
knowledge that, short of a major catastrophe, the younger members cannot turnaround and fire
them, a situation quite unlike the private sector.

Which of the following assumptions is most likely to have been made by the author of the above
argument?

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 (a) Industry should follow the example of public sector and protect the jobs of managers by following
the system of hiring.
(b) If no such hiring system existed, senior managers in the public sector would be reluctant to hire
new managers who might threaten their own jobs.
(c) The traditional argument that the public sector hiring system protects managers from being
dismissed for holding unconventional or unpopular beliefs is no longer persuasive or valid today.
(d) If a stronger consensus concerning what constitutes the catastrophe existed, the hiring system
in public sector would be expandable.

Directiojns for questions 5 to 7: Read the given paragraphs and answer the following questions.

5. Personal, organizational, and cultural values can create a difficult problem when trying to make a
business decision that includes all the previously stated. Personal values are what each individual
holds dear to them while living the types of lives that he or she likes and would like to lead.
Organizational values are what are best for the company to maintain a good public image and
employee guidance. Cultural values are set on traditions handed down from generation to generation
to preserve a way of living that each culture holds dear and true to them. Trying to intertwine these
types of values when making professional and personal decisions in one's life can create a very
stressful situation.
Which of the following statements is an underlying assumption made by the author?
(a) Personal, organizational and cultural values exist; however, human beings are free to choose
and make their decisions by keeping in mind one, two or all of these values.
(b) Stressful situations are caused only when humans try to please everyone – themselves,
organization and society.
(c) No such values can interfere with our decision making unless we allow them to.
(d) It does not matter what values you have unless your organization is making profits.

6. "Minister patil says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I disagree entirely. I can't
understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like that."

What is the assumption made by the author in the above argument?

(a) Not funding the attack submarine program will leave the country defenseless.
(b) Funding the attack submarine program is necessary for defense of the country.
(c) Attack submarine program is very expensive.
(d) India should fund the attack submarine program.

7. The U.S. will be releasing graphic images to deter smokers. Federal health officials released on
June 21 their final selection of nine graphic warning labels to cover the top half of cigarette packages
beginning next year, over the opposition of tobacco manufacturers. In the first major change to
warning labels in more than a quarter-century, the graphic images will include photos of horribly
damaged teeth and lungs and a man exhaling smoke through a tracheotomy opening in his neck.
The Department of Health and Human Services selected nine color images among 36 proposed to
accompany larger text warnings.
The above paragraph is not based on which of the following assumptions?
(a) Photos will be more effective than just words in warning tobacco consumers.
(b) Seeing damaged teeth, lungs and a tracheotomy opening will hopefully deter people.
(c) These labels will help encourage smokers to quit, and prevent children from smoking.
(d) Tobacco manufacturers believe that the release of such images may lead to a loss in sales.

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 Exercise – 2

Directiojns for questions 8 to 12: Read the given passage and answer the following questions:

There are two reasons why I have made The Renaissance Unchained. The first is a fiercely positive
reason. The second is more questioning. The positive reason is, as they say these days, a no-brainer,
and can be summed up in two words - the art. No period in art has stirred up more excitement in me than
the great waterfall of creativity that crashed down on Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Renaissance
gave us the Sistine Ceiling. It gave us Botticelli’s Venus. It gave us the Mona Lisa.

When I was an art history student, way back in the last century, a tour of Renaissance Italy was the
highlight of the course. We went to Florence to see the Michelangelos. We saw Siena. We saw Giotto
and Piero della Francesca. For a couple of weeks we immersed ourselves fully in the delights of the Italian
Renaissance. And though many years separate me now from that life-changing experience I can still feel
its warmth on my back and its intoxication in my head.

So that’s the positive reason. I want to get drunk again. The second reason, the questioning one, is more
complicated. By the time I finished my art history course I had what felt like a thoroughly solid grounding
in the story of art. In those days you were taught chronologically. You started with cave art and finished
with Andy Warhol.

The great virtue of this chronological approach is that it allows you to envisage the big picture. You know
more or less where everything goes; or where it is supposed to go. However, on modern university courses
it has become unfashionable to learn art history that way. Modern courses encourage you to pick and
choose what you learn like a punter in a restaurant ordering a la carte. The thinking behind this tutorial
freedom is that you are more likely to engage with subjects of your own choosing and less likely to be
misled by imperfect ‘grand narratives’ created by vested interests in the past.

Art history didn’t write itself. Somebody came up with its storylines. And those somebodies had reasons
for doing it that cannot always be trusted. Knowing where everything goes in the story of art is an
essential tool of understanding. If you cannot see the bigger picture, if you do not know where an epoch
or a region fits, you cannot build solid foundations for your knowledge.

8. Each of the following is implied in the first paragraph EXCEPT:

(a) Renaissance happened around the 15th and 16th century.
(b) Botticelli’s Venus and Mona Lisa are creative work of art.
(c) The author of the passage wrote a book called “The Renaissance Unchained”.
(d) Renaissance happened in Europe.

9. What does the author imply when he says – ‘I want to get drunk again’?
(a) To better understand how art is taught.
(b) To be intoxicated by various life changing experiences.
(c) To re-live the pleasures the author derived from Italian Renaissance.
(d) To question the history of art.

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10. Each of the following is as assumption made by those who created Modern courses as mentioned
in the 4th paragraph EXCEPT:
(a) There is less learning in an a la carte type course.
(b) Engaging with the subject is crucial for learning.
(c) Students will be able to identify imperfect narratives.
(d) Chronological approach does not allow choice

11. As per the passage, the author holds which one of the following assumptions regarding art history
course?
(a) An elective based system is the most apt approach.
(b) Studying Italian Renaissance is crucial.
(c) Tutorial freedom helps enhance engagement.
(d) Understanding of a broader perspective is essential.

12. The passage, overall, deals with:

(a) contrasting two different reasons as to why the author wrote a book
(b) raising an objection to a certain teaching pedagogy of art history
(c) explaining the motivations behind writing a book
(d) describing how Renaissance influenced his/her life

Directiojns for questions 13 to 15: Read the given passage and answer the following questions:

Lawyers are typically interested in the question: What is the law on a particular issue? This is
always a local question and answers to it are bound to differ according to the specific jurisdiction in which
they are asked. In contrast, philosophy of law is interested in the general question: What is Law? This
general question about the nature of law presupposes that law is a unique social-political phenomenon,
with more or less universal characteristics that can be discerned through philosophical analysis. General
jurisprudence, as this philosophical inquiry about the nature of law is called, is meant to be universal. It
assumes that law possesses certain features, and it possesses them by its very nature, or essence, as
law, whenever and wherever it happens to exist.

However, even if there are such universal characteristics of law—which is controversial—the reasons for a
philosophical interest in elucidating them remain to be explained. First, there is the sheer intellectual
interest in understanding such a complex social phenomenon which is, after all, one of the most intricate
aspects of human culture. Law, however, is also a normative social practice: it purports to guide human
behaviour, giving rise to reasons for action. An attempt to explain this normative, reason-giving aspect of
law is one of the main challenges of general jurisprudence. These two sources of interest in the nature of
law are closely linked. Law is not the only normative domain in our culture; morality, religion, social
conventions, etiquette, and so on, also guide human conduct in many ways which are similar to law.

13. As per the passage, what is the assumption made in the philosophical question – What is Law?
(a) Law is a matter of jurisdiction and therefore cannot be considered to have universal characteristics.
(b) Law possess certain characteristics which can be understood through philosophical analysis.
(c) There are many controversial issues regarding the philosophical question – What is Law?
(d) Law should include questions of moral, religious and social conventions so as to make it
universal.

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14. Which of the following can be implied from the second paragraph regarding normative social practice?
(a) Normative social practice is controversial when dealing with law.
(b) Normative social practice has many challenges in its practical application.
(c) Normative social practice deals with guiding human behaviour.
(d) Normative social practice excludes the guiding principle of religion.
15. It is implied in the passage that the lawyers:
(a) are less concerned with the normative aspect of law.
(b) are less concerned with specific jurisdiction of law.
(c) are more concerned with the philosophical aspects of law.
(d) are more concerned with the social dimensions of law.

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 Lesson 4: Argument Reasoning – Assumptions
Answers and Explanations
1 a 2 b 3 b 4 b 5 a 6 b 7 c 8 c 9 c 10 a

11 d 12 b 13 c 14 c 15 a

1. a Options (b) and (c) should be eliminated as the 7. c Option (a) can be concluded from the fact that the
passage nowhere mentions increased international tobacco majors are opposing this move of adding
business or more countries trying to export their photos to text. Option (b) can be inferred from the first
goods. The passage does not even talk about the sentence that the US hopes to deter smokers through
profits made by the local companies. Thus, option (d) the graphic images. Option (c) talks about preventing
should be eliminated. Option (a) is the correct option. children from smoking. Children specifically have not
This assumption can be seen in the first sentence that been indicated anywhere in the paragraph. Smokers
countries try to gain legally and the following in general will be deterred but there is no specific
information that they claim damages suffered due to assumption about children. Option (d) is an assumption;
certain kinds of imports. this can be concluded from the fact that the tobacco
majors are opposing this move of adding photos to
2. b Option (b) is the right answer, as only (b) is a valid text.
assumption central to the given argument.
8. c Option (c) is correct as the author claims to have
3. b Shruti concludes that Neha would be an effective
teacher as she is too lenient to fail students and too made Renaissance Unchained, which implies that it
critical to reward any student with high marks. In making couldn’t have been a book.
her argument, Shruti assumes that in order to be an Options (a) and (d) are incorrect as they are facts
effective teacher, one must be able to do one of the mentioned in the first paragraph.
two things. This leads us to option (b). Option (a) is a Option (b) is incorrect as Botticelli’s Venus and Mona
distorted version of Shruti's assumption. Shruti, Lis a have been referred as artis tic works of
nowhere assumes that effective teachers have only Renaissance period. Thus, these works are bound
two options. Option (c) fails to address the key issue. to reflect creativity, the nascent characteristic of that
Option (d) again is a distorted statement; it stresses period.
on the fact that a teacher must be effective in order to
fail or reward the students whereas the argument is
9. c Option (c) is the correct answer as the author refers
concerned with what teachers must be able to do in
to his/her experience of a trip to Italy as an intoxication
order to be effective.
in his head. Thus, by saying that he/she wants to get
4. b W e cannot really point out what the policy of hiring drunk, he/she wants to convey the thought of reliving
should be, but we can safely agree with option (b) i.e. the pleasures that trip again.
the policy would not be so if such hiring system did Options (a) and (d) are incorrect as any questioning
not exist. or act of understanding can’t happen in a state of
intoxication.
5. a Options (b), (c) and (d) are completely out of scope. Option (b) is incorrect as there are not multiple
The idea of ‘pleasing’ has not been mentioned in the experiences in question here, the experience of the
passage. Options (c) and (d) deny the importance of trip to Italy is the only experience under consideration.
values whic h completely contradicts the views
presented in the above paragraph. Option (a) conforms
10. a [The question is being asked from the perspective of
to the idea given in the paragraph and relates to the
those who created modern courses]
right to choose that is inherent to each human being.
Option (a) is correct as these assumptions have been
6. b The argument assumes that the only way the country's made from the perspective of those who created
defence can remain intact is by funding the attack modern courses, so it is highly unlikely that they
submarine program. Hence, the argument assumes themselves assume that this method contains such a
that funding this program is essential for the defence. strong demerit.
Option (a) is stated in the argument and hence, cannot All other options are incorrect as they have been
be a n assumption. Options (c) and (d) are irrelevant. cited in the passage as arguments in favour of the
new course structure.

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11. d Option (d) is the correct answer as the passage 14. c Option (c) is correct as the second paragraph defines
stresses on the importance of understanding the law as a normative social practice which tends to
broader perspective while pursuing art history. alter the behaviour of the s ubjects under its
Option (a) is incorrect as the author provides no jurisdiction.
arguments to substantially approve any single method Option (a) is incorrect as it misplaces the word
over others. controversial in the wrong context.
Options (b) and (c) are incorrect as these assump- Options (b) and (d) are incorrect as they mention
tions have not been mentioned even indirectly in the vague and random factors, such as religion, which
passage. has not been discussed in the passage.

12. b [a and c can be ruled out because of “book”. (d) is a 15. a Option (a) is correct as the primary interest of lawyers
detail and not the main point] could be stipulated from the introductory part of the
Option (b) is the correct answer as the passage first paragraph. Lawyers’ interest in particular issues
primarily argues between the two dominant suggests that they are concerned with the specific
pedagogies of teaching art history. law under a certain jurisdiction, and not with the
Options (a) and (c) are incorrect as they mention generalised normative aspect of law.
Renaissance Unchained as a book, which is not true. T his normative as pec t contains elements of
Option (d) is incorrect as it is a personal detail that philosophy and social relevance; thus, all other
the author has shared about himself/herself, and thus options are incorrect.
it can’t be accepted as the main point of the passage.

13. c Option (c) is correct as the answer to the question:

What is Law? contains the key assumption that there
are some universally valid characteristics in the very
fabric of law and that these characteristics are
independent from the factor of urisdiction but they
could be understood by asking certain philosophical
questions. T his element of univers ality in the
assumption is controversial.
All other options are incorrect as they fail to point to
the reasoning behind the controversial nature of the
assumption.

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