Self-study
Passage A.
P1
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Intro topic ·
View that brain is sole cause of behavior has implications for law
Legal perspective and complicating fact ·
Rationality is all that matters
But some people are rational even though they're influence by something they can't control.
Complicating evidence ·
People might think they're rational, but might not be
Their behavior might be caused by things about their brain that they can't control.
Implication ·
Criminal law should focus on deterrence, not retribution
If people can't freely choose their actions, punishing them for choosing immoral acts doesn't make sense. Punishing should be about preventing future harm.
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P2
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Neuroscience perspective ·
Brain causes behavior
This view supports the idea that human action isn't a product of free will.
Other perspective ·
Free will is compatible with determinism
Determinism is the name for the view that human action isn't a product of free will.
P3
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Elaborate on other perspective ·
Difference between free actions and constrained actions.
Free actions are caused by things internal to a human (like will). These actions involved a choice between A or B. Constrained actions, including mental disorders, involve external forces that preclude someone from a choice. The person could only choose A.
P4
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Elaborate on other perspective ·
Source of cause determines free vs. constrained
Internal cause (with the exception of a mental disorder) = free. External cause = constrained.
Author's extension ·
Actions resulting from regular brains are free
Even if those actions results from wills that are "determined" by the brain, they're still free.
Passage Style
21.
Which one of the following █████████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██
Question Type
Analogy (RC)
Passage A argues that, because neuroscience shows actions people think are free might not actually be free, we should abandon the now dominant view that retribution is why we should punish criminals. Let’s look for an answer that concludes we should change a view because it’s based on a false assumption.
a
Many word processors ███ ██████ ████ ████████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████████████
This doesn’t involve changing a view or a false assumption.
b
Economic models generally ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ █████████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████████ █████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███████ █████ █████████
This doesn’t conclude that we should change a view. Rather, the conclusion is that certain economic models that are based on a flawed assumption won’t be effective. But this doesn’t advocate changing the economic models.
c
The existing program ███ ████████ ███████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ █████████
This involves changing a view (about how to teach math in elementary schools) because it’s based on a false assumption (previous notions about how to teach math are mistaken).
d
Civil disobedience is █████████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █████ █████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ████████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████████
This doesn’t involve changing a view or a false assumption.
e
Being autonomous does ███ █████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ █████████ █████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ████████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████
This doesn’t involve changing a view or a false assumption. Don’t pick this answer just because it involves control over behavior. The similarity of the content of an argument should have no bearing on whether the argument’s structure is analogous.