PT17.S2.Q18

PrepTest 17 - Section 2 - Question 18

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Dillworth: More and more people are deciding not to have children because of the personal and economic sacrifices children require and because so often children are ungrateful for the considerable sacrifices their parents do make for them. ████████ ████ ██████████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██ ████████ █████ ████████ ██ █ ████████

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Dillworth's Argument

Dillworth concludes that people with deeply held values should probably have children despite the drawbacks of doing so. (Said drawbacks being personal and financial sacrifice, plus children's ingratitude.) Why? Because according to Dillworth, having children is the best chance of ensuring one's values survive, regardless of the drawbacks.

Essentially, Dillworth is saying that for those with deeply held values, the pros of having children outweigh the cons. If one's values are the most important consideration, then ensuring they survive is worth all the costs of parenthood.

Travers' Argument

Travers brings in some important new evidence: that children's ingratitude is usually due to rejecting their parents' values. This casts the drawbacks of having children in a new light. Maybe ingratitude isn't just a cost that's worth it to pass on one's values—it could actually signal a threat to the goal of ensuring one's values survive.

This is the implied conclusion that Travers argues towards: that Dillworth is wrong to say children's ingratitude has "no bearing" on passing on one's values. Travers doesn't directly disagree with Dillworth's conclusion, but suggests that Dillworth misunderstands the relevant considerations.

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18.

Dillworth employs which one of ███ █████████ █████████████ ███████████

a

showing that considerations █████ ██ █████████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███

Dillworth does discuss some drawbacks to parenthood, but doesn't go as far as saying these aren't drawbacks at all. Instead, Dillworth suggests that these drawbacks are worthwhile for the ultimate goal of passing on one's values.

10%
b

exposing as morally ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ █████████ ███████

Dillworth never says that people who don't have children are immoral. In fact, Dillworth doesn't even "reject" the choice to not have children. Dillworth's point is just that having children might be a better decision for those with deeply held values.

2%
c

indirectly establishing that █ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████

Dillworth never claims that having children is obligatory, nor does Dillworth suggest that it's forbidden to remain childless.

3%
d

distinguishing a category ██ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████

Dillworth's conclusion applies only to a specific category of person: those with deeply held values. And for people in this category, Dillworth suggests that the pros of having children (passing on one's values) outweigh the cons. In other words, the reasons in favor of having children are more "telling" than the reasons not to.

75%
e

using evidence that █ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ███████████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████

Dillworth's conclusion is only about what course of action would make sense for people with deeply held values. Dillworth never attempts to make this conclusion universal by applying it to all people. We don't know what Dillworth would recommend for people without deeply held values.

10%

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