In this question, "Ed criticizes Ravi's argument by pointing out: [...]"

"Ravi: The highest priority should be given to the needs of the sales department, because without successful sales that company as a whole would fail.

Ed: There are several departments other than sales that must also function successfully for the company to succeed. It is impossible to give the highest priority to all of them."

[...]

(A) That the sales department taken by itself is not critical to the company's success as a whole.

(B) The ambiguity of the term "highest priority".

(C) That the departments other than sales are more vital to the company's success.

(D) An absurd consequence of its apparent assumption that a department's necessity earns it the highest priority.

(E) That Ravi makes a generalization from an atypical case.

I incorrectly answered (C) because I felt that this statement truly captures Ed's method of criticizing Ravi. Specifically, Ed tries to point out other aspects of a company that is vital for success, thus describing the logical reasoning of Ed. Could you please explain what is meant by "absurd consequence of its apparent assumption" found in answer (D)?

Ed actually doesn't argue that other departments are more vital than sales. He just argues that many departments are equally important. Ed's argument, rather, is that we can't give the highest priority to every department that is vital. The "absurd" part comes in with the "highest priority to all of them" part of the argument.

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I actually chose answer choice A for question 50 in re: to Ravi and Ed's arguments. Can you please elaborate as to why answer choice A would not be the best answer?

I read the explanation in the answer key, but am looking for anything further if you can provide. Thanks.

The key to ruling out answer choice A is probably the word "also" as Ed uses it --
He states that there are other departments other than sales that must ALSO function successfully --
His strategy of criticism isn't to say that sales isn't important or isn't critical or can't stand on its own -- rather, his strategy of criticism is to say that there are many departments which are important, and it's impossible to prioritize them.

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