Self-study
Conclusion All actions are motivated by self-interest, since Support any action that is apparently altruistic can be described in terms of self-interest. ███ ████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ █ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that all actions are motivated by self-interest because even actions that seem altruistic could be argued to be done out of self-interest.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author reasons that since altruistic actions can be described in terms of self-interest, all actions are motivated by self-interest. However, the author’s reasoning is flawed because just pointing out that seemingly altruistic actions can be described in terms of self-interest doesn’t necessarily prove that they were motivated by self-interest.
18.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████
a
The term "self-interest" ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████████
The term “self-interest” is used in the same way at all points in the argument.
b
The argument takes ████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ ████ █████
This is exactly what the argument does. Just showing that altruistic actions could’ve been done out of self-interest doesn’t prove they were actually done out of self-interest.
c
The argument does ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████
The author doesn’t have to define these terms. He is just arguing that all actions are done out of self-interest.
d
The argument ignores ███ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ███ █ ███████ ████████ ██ ██ █ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ █ ███████████
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of mistaking a sufficient condition for a necessary condition, which doesn’t occur in this argument. The argument doesn’t rely on conditional reasoning, and no necessary or sufficient conditions are discussed.
e
The argument depends ███ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████
The argument doesn’t appeal to emotions. It uses an example to illustrate how a seemingly altruistic action can be described in terms of self-interest.