Q177
ReasoningSyllogism & Logical Deduction
Exclusive Proposition: Which is the correct option? If a person is rich, he has lot of influence.
- a.Alok has a lot of influence, so he is rich.
- b.If a person is not rich he does not have a lot of influence.
- c.Tapas is rich and so he has a lot of influence.
- d.Poor people cannot have influence.
Answer: (C) Tapas is rich and so he has a lot of influence.
The statement 'If a person is rich, he has a lot of influence' is a conditional (rich implies influence). The only valid inference is to affirm the condition for a particular case: Tapas is rich, therefore he has a lot of influence (modus ponens). Option (A) reverses the conditional - influence may come from other sources (the fallacy of affirming the consequent); options (B) and (D) deny the condition and conclude the opposite (the fallacy of denying the antecedent). The valid contrapositive would be: a person without much influence is not rich.