18The tests
If a link fails
What falls with each premise
- Pull a premise; see what falls.
- The binary has two routes, and each rests on a premise with weak support AU4 · weak supportAU12 · weak support.
- The outcome left standing rests on AX4 AX4 · strong support.
If one assumption fails, the table shows what falls with it. The two-answer claim rests on assumptions with weak support.
What the grades meannine grades, from the firmest to the weakest
- statedThe source says it in its own words, and the study quotes them.
- it followsLogic alone gets there from what is stated, and a computer solver checks the step.
- strong supportThe evidence for it far outweighs the evidence against it.
- moderate supportMore of the evidence points for it than against it, but real evidence points the other way.
- one readingThe words allow it but do not require it; another reading fits them as well.
- left openThe evidence does not settle it either way.
- weak supportSome evidence points for it, but more points against it.
- not shownIt is claimed, but the record does not establish it.
- ruled outThe words or the logic exclude it.
A chain is only as good as its weakest link: a conclusion never gets a better grade than the weakest step it needs.
Read in full293 words · the study as written
Each row names a premise, its grade, and what falls if it fails. The table is computed from the needs above: a conclusion falls when every route to it passes through the failed premise.
| If this premise fails | Its grade | What falls with it |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | one reading | AC3, AC5 |
| A2 | moderate support | AC3, AC5 |
| A3 | stated | AC2, K-A1 |
| A4 | weak support | AC1, AC2, K-A1, K-A5 |
| A8 | stated | AC5 |
| AU2 | left open | AC3, AC5 |
| AU4 | weak support | AC1, AC2, K-A1, K-A5 |
| AU5 | stated | AC2, K-A1 |
| AU7 | one reading | AC2, K-A1 |
| AU9 | ruled out | AC4 |
| AU10 | ruled out | AC4 |
| AU11 | weak support | AC5 |
| AU12 | weak support | K-A2 |
| AX4 | strong support | K-A3 |
| B6 | strong support | BC1 |
| B7 | not shown | BC1 |
| B8 | moderate support | BC3, K-B1 |
| BU1 | ruled out | BC3, K-B1 |
| BU5 | moderate support | BC2, BC3, K-B1 |
| BU6 | weak support | BC3, K-B1 |
| BX6 | strong support | K-B2 |
| G1 | strong support | K-A6, K-B5, K-G1, K-G2, K-G3 |
| R1 | stated | K-A6, K-B5 |
What the table shows. The outcome left standing for text 01 is reached through K-A3, which needs AX4 (strong support), and through K-A7, Congress’s choice of measure (strong support); if AX4 failed, K-A3 would fall and the question would turn on AU4. The binary falls only when both of its routes fail, so no single premise brings it down: it needs route 1 (A4, AU4, AU5 and AU7) or route 2 (AU12), and the weakest premise of each has weak support. The transfer to the government, BC2, rests on BU5 (moderate support). The text 02 conclusion that inflation is taxation without representation, BC3, falls with BU1, and BU1 is ruled out by the clause’s syntax.