Self-study
Support Theories generated by scientific research were used to develop several products that, although useful, damage the environment severely. ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ █████ █████████
Summary
Scientists who conducted research that generated theories that were used to develop products that damaged the environment shouldn’t be held responsible for that damage. Why? They only made the theories and couldn’t anticipate or limit the products that might be designed using those theories.
Missing Connection
The author concludes that the scientists shouldn’t be held responsible for the damages caused by the products created using their theories, but the premises never mention responsibility.
How to get from premises to conclusion? According to the premises, the scientists couldn’t foresee or restrict the products the kinds of products that may be designed using their theories. We can infer the conclusion if we assume that if you can’t foresee and/or restrict possible damaging actions of others that were carried out using your idea(s), you shouldn’t be held responsible for the damaging actions.
9.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ████████████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██████
a
Individuals who develop █████████ ████ ███ █████████ ███████████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ███████████████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ██████████ █████
The argument isn’t about undesirable characteristics of the scientists’ theories, it’s about the damaging products that others created by using the scientists’ theories.
b
Individuals are justified ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ███████████ ████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████████████
Irrelevant. The argument isn’t concerned with when individuals are justified in performing an activity, but rather with whether the scientists should be held responsible for the damage caused by the products that were created using their theories.
c
Individuals should receive ██████ ███ ███ ███████████ █████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███ ██ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ ███ █████████████ ███████████ ████████████ █████ ██████████ █████ █████
Irrelevant. The argument isn’t concerned with when individuals should receive credit for something. It’s concerned with when individuals should be held responsible for the damage caused by actions that were carried out by others who were using the individuals’ ideas.
d
Individuals who perform ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ████████████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████████
According to the premises, the scientists couldn’t foresee the kinds of products that might be designed using their theories. If (D) is true, we can infer that the scientists shouldn’t be held responsible for the damage caused by those products.
e
Individuals should be ████ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ███████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████████ █████████ ████████████ ██ █████ ███████████
The argument isn’t concerned with foreseeable consequences, but rather unforeseeable consequences.