Self-study
Conclusion Attacks on an opponent's character should be avoided in political debates. ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ █████ ██ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████
Summary
The author concludes that we should avoid attacking an opponent’s character in political debates.
Why?
Because these attacks don’t confront the opponent’s argument. They instead just try to cast doubt on the opponent’s right to be in the debate.
Notable Assumptions
The author doesn’t provide us with any premise that tells us what kinds of attacks “should be avoided.”
These are principles that would help connect the premises to the conclusion:
If an attack does not confront an opponent’s argument, it should be avoided.
If an attack tried to cast doubt on the opponent’s right to be in a debate, then it should be avoided.
21.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████
a
Attacks on an ██████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ ████████ █████████
Leads to wrong conclusion. We’re not trying to explain what the attacks result from. We’re trying to prove that they should be avoided. (A) allows us to explain why someone makes a character attack. It doesn’t help us conclude that someone shouldn’t use a character attack.
b
Attacks on an ██████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ████████ █ █████████ ███████
Lead to wrong conclusion. We’re not trying to prove that people shouldn’t be impressed by character attacks. We’re trying to prove that these attacks shouldn’t be used.
c
Debating techniques that ██ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ ████████
Provides a bridge that gets us from the premises to the conclusion. (C), rephrased, means that if a debating technique does not confront every argument, then it should be avoided. We know from a premise that character attacks “do not confront the opponent’s argument.” So, we know that these attacks don’t confront every argument — there’s at least one argument that’s not confronted by a character attack. (C) allows us to conclude, then, that we should avoid making a character attack.
d
Attacking the character ██ █████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████████
Leads to wrong conclusion. We’re not trying to prove that character attacks threaten one’s own moral right to enter a debate. We’re trying to prove that the attacks should be avoided.
e
Questions of character ██████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████
Leads to wrong conclusion. We’re not trying to prove that questions of character should be raised. We’re trying to prove that character attacks should be avoided.