Consider the following phrase: Statement: A little knowledge is a dangerous…

2024

Consider the following phrase:

Statement: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

Assumptions:

I. Small amount of information can mislead people

II. People often make more mistakes if they have little knowledge about the topic

Choose the correct option given below.

Answer: D. If both I and II are implicit.Concept: In Statement-and-Assumption questions, an assumption is “implicit” only if it is something the statement silently takes for granted for its claim to…

  1. A.

    If only assumption I is implicit

  2. B.

    If only assumption II is implicit.

  3. C.

    If either I or II is implicit.

  4. D.

    If both I and II are implicit.

Attempted by 1 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D

Concept: In Statement-and-Assumption questions, an assumption is “implicit” only if it is something the statement silently takes for granted for its claim to make logical sense — test it by asking whether the statement's reasoning would collapse if that assumption were false.

Application:

  • Assumption I (small knowledge can mislead people): calling partial knowledge “dangerous” only makes sense if incomplete information is capable of misleading someone into a wrong belief — this is exactly what the statement silently relies on, so Assumption I is implicit.

  • Assumption II (little knowledge causes more mistakes): calling partial knowledge “dangerous” likewise assumes that having only a little information leads to more errors than having complete knowledge — without this, there would be no basis for calling it dangerous, so Assumption II is implicit.

Cross-check: If small knowledge could NOT mislead (Assumption I false) or did NOT cause extra mistakes (Assumption II false), the claim that a little knowledge is “dangerous” would have no support left. Since removing either assumption breaks the statement's own logic, both are necessary presuppositions — both I and II are implicit.

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