Self-study
Philosopher: I have been told that most university students today have no interest in philosophical issues, but I know from my own experience that Conclusion this isn't true. █ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ████ █ ████ ████████ ██ █████████████ ███████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The philosopher concludes that it’s untrue that most university students today have no interest in philosophical issues. Her premise is that university students who attend her talks are deeply interested in philosophical issues.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of basing a conclusion about a group on information from an unrepresentative sample. Students attending a philosopher’s talk are likely to be interested in philosophical issues! That doesn’t tell us much about the broader student body’s interest levels.
1.
The reasoning in the philosopher's ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████████
a
uses the term ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ████████████ ██████████
This is a cookie-cutter flaw, but it isn’t present in the philosopher’s argument. Here, the meaning of the term “interest” remains consistent throughout.
b
treats a group ██ ██████████████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ████████████████
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of basing a conclusion about a group on information from an unrepresentative sample. Students attending a philosopher’s talk are likely to be more interested in philosophical issues than are members of the broader student body!
c
appeals to the ██████████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████████ █████
The philosopher’s argument doesn’t mention or depend on the worth of any academic field.
d
takes for granted ████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ ██████████
The philosopher doesn’t claim that interest in philosophical issues is increasing among university students.
e
takes for granted ████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ █ ███████ ███████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ████████
The philosopher doesn’t take for granted that university students have an interest in philosophical issues. She has observed this interest in the students who attend her talks.