Self-study
Political philosopher: Support A just system of taxation would require each person's contribution to correspond directly to the amount the society as a whole contributes to serve that person's interests. ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ███████
Method of Reasoning
The political philosopher gives his explanation of how a process should work (taxation corresponding to the amount society benefits someone), identifies the most objective way to measure what that process should be based on (wealth determining how much society has benefited someone), and moves to a conclusion about how that measure should be the sole determinant of how that system works (wealth single-handedly determining how much someone is taxed).
Identify and Describe Flaw
This argument has two flaws. First, it treats “wealth” and “income” as the same thing. The political philosopher says that the amount someone has benefited from society is best measured by “wealth,” and then says that people should be taxed based only on their “income.” Wealth and income aren’t the same things.
Second, the author says that because wealth is the best way to measure the amount that someone has benefited from society, wealth should be the only determinant of how much someone is taxed. Just because wealth is the best way to determine how much someone has benefited from society, that doesn’t necessarily mean it should be the only way that we determine how much someone has benefited from society.
25.
The flawed reasoning in the █████████ █████████████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Cars should be █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ █ ███ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████████
The author gives his explanation of how a process should work (cars being taxed in proportion to the danger they pose), identifies the most objective way to measure what that process should be based on (speed determining how dangerous a car is), and moves to a conclusion about how that measure should be the sole determinant of how that system works (ability to accelerate single-handedly determining how much a car is taxed).
This commits the same two flaws as the stimulus: (A) treats two words with different meanings like they’re the same (”speed” and “acceleration”) and says that because speed is the best determinant of how dangerous a car is, speed should be the sole determinant of how much a car is taxed.
b
People should be ███████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████████ █ ███████ █████████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██████████ █████ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ █████████
No flaw. If people should be granted autonomy in proportion to their maturity, you can make the argument that the psychological test should be used to determine whether someone should be granted autonomy.
c
Everyone should pay █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███████ █████████ ███ █████ █████████████ ██████████ █ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ████████████ ██ ███ █ ███████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████
Wrong flaw. (C) describes how we should determine how much someone should be taxed (based on how many benefits they receive from the government), points out that large corporations receive subsidies, then erroneously concludes that a just tax would require corporations to pay a greater share of their income than individual citizens. However, without knowing what benefits individual citizens receive from the government, we can’t justify this conclusion. In the stimulus, meanwhile, the political philosopher treats different words as the same and says the most objective measure of something should be the only determinant of something else.
d
Individuals who confer █████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███████████████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ██ █ ███████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██████ █████ ████████ ████ ████████
Wrong flaw. (D) commits a cookie-cutter “analogies that aren’t analogous enough” flaw. (D) says that because those who confer large material benefits upon society should have high incomes, and those with high incomes should pay high taxes, activities that confer large benefits upon society should be taxed highly. Individuals and activities aren’t the same, so this analogy fails. In the stimulus, meanwhile, no analogies are made.
e
Justice requires that ██████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████
No flaw. If health care should be given in proportion to each individual’s need, then it follows that we need to ensure that the most seriously ill hospital patients are given the highest priority in receiving health care.