Self-study
Manager: When Sullivan was passed over for promotion, people said that the deciding factor was his being much older than the competition. ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ █████ ███████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ █████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The manager concludes that Sullivan’s being older than his competitors was not the reason he was denied the promotion. The manager supports this claim by citing examples of even older people who got promotions.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The problem is that this may not be a valid comparison—the circumstances surrounding those other promotions might have been different. It’s possible that the older individuals who were promoted didn’t face any younger competition. So even if old age wasn’t a deciding factor in those cases, it still could have been the reason Sullivan was passed over.
9.
The manager's argument is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ████
a
Sullivan was well █████████ ███ ███ █████████
This is irrelevant because Sullivan could have been passed over due to his older age whether he was qualified or not.
b
age is only ███ ██ █ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ ████████
This isn’t a flaw because the manager claims that Sullivan was not passed over primarily due to his age. Age still could have been one factor, along with other factors, as long as it was not the deciding factor.
c
people often associate ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████████
This is irrelevant because the argument is concerned only with whether the deciding factor in Sullivan's being passed over was his age. It doesn’t matter what people generally associate with age.
d
the people older ████ ████████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████████
If the older individuals who were promoted didn’t face younger competitors, then their situations were different from Sullivan’s and wouldn't undermine the manager's claim that age wasn't a deciding factor in Sullivan's case. Age still could have been a deciding factor in Sullivan's case, despite older people being promoted in other positions, because those older people might have been the youngest competing for their respective positions.
e
Sullivan's employer tries ██ ████ █████████████ █████████ █████████ █████████ ████████████
This is irrelevant. Whether or not the deliberations are kept confidential does not help us determine whether or not Sullivan’s age was the deciding factor.