Self-study
Editorial: Many observers note with dismay the decline in the number of nongovernmental, voluntary community organizations. ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ █████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ █ ████████ ██ █████████████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ███████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The editorial concludes that it may not be true that increased government services have caused a decrease in volunteer organizations. This is supported by the proposal that declining volunteerism may instead have caused the increase in government services.
Describe Method of Reasoning
The editorial points out that a correlation between two events could potentially be explained with an opposite causal relationship than the one put forward by others. By introducing an alternative explanation, the editorial casts doubt on others’ explanation of the correlation.
10.
The editorial undermines the conclusion ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ██
a
showing that there ██ ██ █████████ ████████
The editorial does not claim that there is no causality involved, just that the particular causal relationship proposed by others is not necessarily true.
b
offering a counterexample ██ ███ ███████ ███████████
The editorial does not deny or attempt to counter the correlation between increasing government services and decreasing volunteerism.
c
proving that no ██████████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ███████ ███ ████████████
The editorial doesn’t make any claims regarding drawing a generalization about people’s motivation for volunteering.
d
offering an alternate ███████████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████
The editorial offers an alternate explanation of the correlation between increased government services and decreased volunteering: that the latter phenomenon could cause the former, instead of the other way around.
e
proving that governments ████ ██ ████ █████████ █████████████ ████ ██ ██
The editorial doesn’t make any judgments about what governments must or must not be responsible for.