Self-study
Editorial: It is common to find essays offering arguments that seem to show that our nation is in decline. █████ ██ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ███ █████████████ █████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The editorial concludes that the nation is not in decline. The support for this conclusion is that essay-writers who claim that the nation is in decline write in anxious tones, which allegedly demonstrates that their claims are influenced by the authors’ own anxieties and therefore do not accurately reflect the nation’s condition.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of attacking the source of the argument, wherein the author attacks the person or group making the argument instead of going after the argument itself. In this case, the editorial criticizes the psychological states of the writers who claim that the nation is in decline instead of giving any reason to believe that their claims are false. The nation could be declining whether or not these essays are written in an anxious tone!
4.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ █ ████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██████████
a
The editorial dismisses █ █████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ██████
The editorial bases its entire argument on an analysis of the essays’ tones and their authors’ psychological states, rather than presenting any counter-points to the essays’ actual claims. The nation could be declining whether or not the authors are anxious!
b
The editorial compares ███ ██████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███████ █████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The editorial doesn’t compare any situations without considering their differences—the one possible comparison is between the authors’ psychological states and the condition of the nation, and the editorial claims to find a difference there.
c
The editorial confuses ██████ █████ █ ████████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ █ █████████ ████████
The editorial does not name the type of decline in question, and therefore does not confuse claims about different types of declines.
d
The editorial overlooks ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ██ ████████
The editorial does not argue that the nation is thriving; rather, it concludes that the nation is not in decline. This leaves open the possibility that the nation is neither thriving nor in decline.
e
The editorial dismisses █ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████ ████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ████ █████
The evidence doesn’t necessarily support any view on the nation’s condition. It’s possible that the authors’ anxious tones are evidence that they fear the nation’s real decline, but it’s also possible that the tones are alarmist or unrelated to the condition of the nation.