Self-study
Administrator: Because revenue fell by 15 percent this year, the university needs to reduce next year's budget. ████ █████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ████████████ ██ ████████ ███████ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ █████████
Summarize Argument
The administrator concludes that the university must reduce faculty salaries. Why? Because the university must save money. He suggests two ways it could achieve this: reducing faculty salaries or eliminating faculty positions. The university won’t eliminate faculty positions.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of creating a false dichotomy. The administrator presents two options for the university reduce its budget—reducing salaries and firing staff. However, he gives no reason to believe that these are the only two options. Perhaps the university could save money by spending less on student dining or facilities maintenance.
Consequently, we can’t conclude that not choosing one of the administrator’s options means that we have to choose the other one.
21.
The administrator's reasoning is flawed ███████ ███ █████████████
a
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███████████ ███████ █████████
The administrator never compares the savings from reduced salaries vs. layoffs, so this can’t be the flaw.
b
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ███████
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of creating a false dichotomy. The administrator commits it by treating elimination of faculty positions or reduction of faculty salaries as the only two options, without justification.
c
ignores the possibility █████ ██████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ██ ██ ███████
The administrator never suggests that 15 percent of the budget needs to be cut: the 15 percent figure was for the decline in revenue.
d
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ █ ███████ ██████
The administrator never presumes anything about faculty members’ decision-making, so this can’t be the flaw.
e
ignores the possibility ████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ████████ ████████
The administrator directly states that no faculty positions will be eliminated, so ignoring this option is not a flaw.