Self-study
Conclusion There is no genuinely altruistic behavior. ████████ █████ ██ ████ █ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ █ ███████ ███████████████ ███████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that there is no such thing as genuinely altruistic behavior. This is because behavior that seems altruistic can also be interpreted as being selfish.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The mere fact that behavior can be interpreted as selfish doesn't prove that the behavior is in fact selfish. The behavior could actually be altruistic and completely unselfish, even if someone might interpret the behavior as selfish.
19.
A flaw in the argument ██ ████ ██
a
presupposes that anyone ███ ██ ██████ ███ ██ █████████████ ██ █████ ██████████
Similar to (B), this is descriptively inaccurate since the argument concludes the opposite. It doesn’t presuppose that anyone has altruistic behavior—it claims that there’s no such thing.
b
illicitly infers that ████████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████████
Similar to (A), this is descriptively inaccurate because the argument concludes the opposite. It doesn’t infer that any behavior is altruistic—it claims that there’s no such thing.
c
fails to consider ████ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ █████
This is irrelevant because even if self-esteem depends on awareness of one's own value, behavior could still be interpreted as selfish. The problem is that the argument doesn’t prove that behavior that can be interpreted as selfish actually is selfish.
d
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████
The argument only refers to the belief that one is useful or needed. It doesn’t matter whether or not anyone actually is useful or needed.
e
takes for granted ████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████████████ ██ ██ ████ ███████████████
The premises state that seemingly altruistic behavior can be interpreted as being selfish. But we still don’t know if the behavior actually is selfish. The evidence is too weak to declare that altruistic behavior doesn’t exist. (Think about a generous act you might do, such as donating to homeless. Someone else might interpret this as selfish, even if you had no selfish motive at all.)