Regardless of what Jim says, baseball is a more refined sport than ice hockey. This is so because more refined people watch baseball rather than ice hockey. You can tell which people are more refined simply by the fact that they prefer the more refined sport to the less refined one.
A logical criticism of the argument above would emphasize that it
A) establishes a general rule on the basis of one experience
B) appeals to questionable authority
C) engages in circular reasoning
D) attacks a speaker's reputation, rather than addressing his argument
E) fails to five exceptions to a general rule
C) engages in circular reasoning
A logical criticism of the argument above would emphasize that it:
C) engages in circular reasoning.
Circular reasoning occurs when the argument relies on the conclusion that it is trying to prove. In this case, the argument assumes that baseball is more refined because more refined people prefer it, and then uses the assumption that more refined people prefer it as evidence that baseball is more refined. This circular reasoning does not provide a sound logical basis for the argument.