Physician: The patient is suffering either from disease X or else from disease Y, but there is no available test for distinguishing X from Y. Therefore, since there is an effective treatment for Y but no treatment for X, we must act on the assumption that the patient has a case of Y.
The physicianâ€™s reasoning could be based on which one of the following principles?
(A) In treating a patient who has one or the other of two diseases, it is more important to treat the diseases than to determine which of the two diseases the patient has.
(B) If circumstances beyond a decision makerâ€™s control will affect the outcome of the decision makerâ€™s actions, the decision maker must assume that circumstances are unfavorable.
(C) When the soundness of a strategy depends on the truth of a certain assumption, the first step in putting the strategy into effect must be to test the truth of this assumption.
(D) When success is possible only if a circumstance beyond oneâ€™s control is favorable, then oneâ€™s strategy must be based on the assumption that this circumstance is in fact favorable.
(E) When only one strategy carries the possibility of success, circumstances must as much as possible be changed to fit this strategy.