Self-study
A recent report on an environmental improvement program was criticized for focusing solely on pragmatic solutions to the large number of significant problems that plague the program instead of seriously trying to produce a coherent vision for the future of the program. ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ █ █████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ █ ██████████ ███ ███████████
Argument Summary
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Funding First; Vision Later
The stimulus gives us 1) an unsupported claim from the critics, and 2) an argument from the report authors with a clear gap in its reasoning:
Critics
Claim: Focusing on pragmatics over vision was a bad call.
Report Authors
Premise: The program requires government funding, and government funding requires a reputation for competence.
(Assumption: We must focus on pragmatics to regain a reputation for competence.)
________
Conclusion: Focusing on pragmatics over vision was a great call.
21.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████
a
The government does ███ ████████ ███████ █ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████
(A) is mainly wrong because it’s so weak. Even if the government “only” provides 99% of the program’s funding, government funding could absolutely be necessary for the program to function.
b
The program will ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ █ ████████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████
Realistically, you should select (B) via process of elimination.
As mentioned in the analysis, (B) doesn’t engage with the report authors’ premises at all – it simply provides a reason why focusing on a coherent vision for the future of the program is a better choice than focusing on pragmatic solutions to problems.
It essentially says the options are 1) focus on pragmatic solutions to an endless stream of serious problems, or 2) build a coherent vision, and thereby avert tons of serious problems.
c
The program had █ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ████████
This is best interpreted as an attempt to serve the report authors’ in their attempt to respond to the critics: “we tried the vision thing, and it failed!” But we’re on the other team – we’re looking to support the critics.
d
The government has ██████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ███ █████ ███ ██ ████ ███████
To impact the debate between the critics and the report authors, we need information that makes building a vision a better call than focusing on pragmatics. (D)’s discussion of government funding is unmoored from that pragmatics vs. vision debate.
e
The program has ████████ █ █████ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ████ ██ █████████
The stimulus’ discussion of reputation and government funding is itself unmoored from the “pragmatics vs. vision” debate – the gap in the report authors’ argument is that they never connect those two topics. Accordingly, (E)’s added info about what kind of reputation the program deserves is similarly unmoored from the pragmatics vs. vision debate.