Self-study
West: Of our company's three quality control inspectors, Conclusion Haynes is clearly the worst. ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███████
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Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
Young disputes West’s conclusion that Haynes is the worst inspector at the company. West cited the high proportion (50%) of returned defective appliances that were inspected by Haynes as support. In response, Young points out that Haynes inspects more than 50% of their sold appliances.
Describe Method of Reasoning
Young undermines West’s conclusion by disputing an implied assumption. West moves from a premise (Haynes inspected 50% of defective appliances) to a conclusion (Haynes is a bad inspector). West doesn’t say so outright, but his conclusion relies on the assumption that inspecting 50% of the defective appliances indicates that an inspector is bad.
Young provides more information (Haynes inspected more than 50% of all appliances) that casts doubt on this unspoken assumption.
12.
Young responds to West's argument ██
a
contending that the ████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ █████
Young doesn’t suggest that West presupposes that his conclusion is true. He contends that a presupposition underlying West’s conclusion is false.
b
questioning the relevance ██ ██████ ██████████
Young questions the accuracy of West’s conclusion, not its relevance. Questioning its relevance would be saying that it doesn’t matter whether Haynes is the worst inspector. West, by contrast, gives a reason to believe that Haynes isn’t the worst inspector.
c
disputing the accuracy ██ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ████████
Young is disputing the accuracy of an unstated premise, not a stated premise. West has to assume that inspecting 50% of the defective appliances indicates that an inspector is bad, but he doesn’t explicitly state this. Compare to (E), which refers to a presupposition.
d
arguing for a ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████████
West’s conclusion is about a binary question: either Haynes is the worst inspector or he isn’t. There are no more or less extreme versions of it that Young could be arguing for.
e
denying one of ███ ██████████ ███████████████
A “presupposition” is an unstated assumption that must be true for a claim to make sense. West presupposes that inspecting 50% of the defective appliances means an inspector is bad. By providing context about Haynes’ share of inspections, Young challenges that presupposition.