Self-study
Employee: Vernon's behavior in last month's incident was certainly unprofessional enough that our company was justified in firing him. ███ ███████ ██████████████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████████████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████████████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ █████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the company must give Vernon his job back. This is based on the fact that several higher-ranking employees engaged in behavior just as unprofessional as Vernon did, but haven’t been fired. In addition, the company should be consistent.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author overlooks the fact that another consistent course of action would be to keep Vernon fired, but to also fire the other employees who engaged in unprofesional behavior.
26.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ █ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████
a
illicitly using a ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████
There is no term that is used in different senses. “Unprofessional” means unprofessional.
b
confusing behavior that ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████
The author admits Vernon’s behavior justified his firing. But the author does not assume that unprofessional behavior is necessary to justify his firing. The argument doesn’t concern what is required for firing; it concerns what is required in order for consistency.
c
offering as its ███████ ████████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████
(C) describes circular reasoning. The author’s conclusion is not restated in the evidence. The premises do not assert that Vernon should be given his job back.
d
treating behavior that ███ █████████ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████████
We know that unprofessional behavior sometimes results in firing, as shown by the firing of Vernon. But the author does not assume that unprofessional behavior always results in firing. In fact, the author points to examples of people who were not fired, but unprofessional.
e
inferring that one ████████ ████████ ██ █ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████████
The author assumes that one specific response (give Vernon his job back) to a problem (inconsistency) is necessary without considering another equally supported response (firing the other employees).