Conditional Reasoning

Sufficient and Necessary Question Set
1. It is a principle of economics that a nation can experience economic growth only when consumer confidence is balanced with a small amount of consumer skepticism.
Which one of the following is an application of the
economic principle above?
(A) Any nation in which consumer confidence is
balanced with a small amount of consumer
skepticism will experience economic growth.
(B) Any nation in which the prevailing attitude of
consumers is not skepticism will experience
economic growth.
(C) Any nation in which the prevailing attitude of
consumers is either exclusively confidence or
exclusively skepticism will experience
economic growth.
(D) Any nation in which the prevailing attitude of
consumers is exclusively confidence will not
experience economic growth.
(E) Any nation in which consumer skepticism is
balanced with a small amount of consumer
confidence will experience economic growth.
2. Editorialist: Drivers with a large number of demerit points who additionally have been convicted of a serious driving-related offense should either be sentenced to jail or be forced to receive driver reeducation, since to do otherwise would be to allow a crime to go unpunished. Only if such drivers are likely to be made more responsible drivers should driver re-education be recommended for them. Unfortunately, it is always almost impossible to make drivers with a large number of demerit points more responsible drivers.
If the editorialist’s statements are true, they provide
the most support for which one of the following?
(A) Drivers with a large number of demerit points
who have been convicted of a serious
driving-related offense should be sent to jail.
(B) Driver re-education offers the best chance of
making drivers with a large number of
demerit points responsible drivers.
(C) Driver re-education is not a harsh enough
punishment for anyone convicted of a serious
driving-related offense who has also
accumulated a large number of demerit
points.
(D) Driver re-education should not be
recommended for those who have committed
no serious driving-related offenses.
(E) Drivers with a large number of demerit points
but no conviction for a serious
driving-related offense should receive driver
re-education rather than jail.

Three Logical Features of Conditional Reasoning

Conditional Reasoning statements have several unique features that you must
know. When considering the diagram above, remember the following:
1. The sufficient condition does not make the necessary condition occur.
That is, the sufficient condition does not actively cause the necessary
condition to happen. That form of reasoning is known as Causal
Reasoning, which will be discussed in Chapter Eight. Instead, in a
conditional statement the occurrence of the sufficient condition is a
sign or indicator that the necessary condition will occur, is occurring,
or has already occurred. In our discussion example, the occurrence of
someone receiving an A+ is a sign that indicates that studying must
also have occurred. The A+ does not make the studying occur.
2. Temporally speaking, either condition can occur first, or the two
conditions can occur at the same time. In our discussion example, the
necessary condition (studying) would most logically occur first.
Depending on the example, the sufficient condition could occur first.
3. The conditional relationship stated by the author does not have to
reflect reality. This point may help some students who thought that our
diagram might be backwards. Some people read the statement and
think, “studying would logically lead to an A+, so studying is the
sufficient condition.” As reasonable as that may sound, that way of
thinking is incorrect because it does not reflect what the author said,
but rather what you think of what the author said. Your job is not to
figure out what sounds reasonable, but rather to perfectly capture the
meaning of the author’s sentence.