Self-study
Alice: Conclusion Quotas on automobile imports to the United States should be eliminated. ████ ████████ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████ ████████ █████████████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████████████ █████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████
██████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ███████
Structure: Counter-Argument
Alice argues that the US should eliminate quotas on automobile imports. She claims this would force US producers to compete directly with Japanese manufacturers, thus producing better-quality cars and benefiting consumers.
David responds by saying that automobile import quotas are "pervasive worldwide." He says that since Germany, Britain, and France have such quotas, contrary to Alice's argument, the United States should have these quotas too.
Analysis: Method of Reasoning
David doesn't actually respond to Alice's reasoning. He ignores her point about the benefits that would come from eliminating import quotas, and simply states (without providing any reasons why) that since other countries have quotas, the US should too.
8.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████████ █████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████████
a
David falsely accuses █████ ██ █████████████ ████████
Incorrect. David claims that Alice has overlooked something, but not that she has contradicted herself.
b
David unfairly directs ███ ████████ ███████ █████ ███████████
Incorrect. It's true that David asserts that Alice has "failed to realize" a point that we might think is irrelevant. But this isn't the same thing as attacking Alice's character or credentials. David isn't doing that; he is bringing up a point he thinks is relevant and that Alice hasn't mentioned.
c
David uncovers a ██████ ██████████ ██████████ █████████ █████████
Incorrect. For this answer choice to be correct, Alice's argument would have to assume that automobile import quotas are not "pervasive worldwide." But Alice's argument is about the specific benefits to US consumers from the US eliminating automobile import quotas. These benefits could occur regardless of whether other countries have such quotas or not. Since Alice's argument works independently of whether any other countries have quotas, we can't say it assumes anything either way about other countries having quotas. Thus, (C) is incorrect.
d
David takes a ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ███ ██████
Incorrect. David takes the opposite position to Alice. Alice says that the US should eliminate automobile import quotas; David argues that the US should keep such quotas.
e
David fails to ███████ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████████
Correct. David doesn't respond to Alice's premise about the benefits of eliminating import quotas. He just brings up a different point about other countries having quotas.