Self-study
Editorial: Support A recently passed law limits freedom of speech in order to silence dissenters. ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ██ █ █████ ████ ██ ████████ █████████████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ███ █████████████ ██ █████████████ ████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that if the saying “those who are ignorant of history will repeat its patterns,” is true, then the people who passed a law intending to silence dissenters must be ignorant of much of history’s patterns. This is because history shows that silencing dissenters leads to authoritarianism.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author confuses sufficient and necessary conditions. The saying is that if one is ignorant of history, then one will repeat its patterns. But this doesn’t imply that if one repeats history’s patterns, one must be ignorant of history. It’s possible that the people who passed the law are repeating history’s patterns even if they’re not ignorant. In fact, maybe they want to follow the patterns of history and are fully aware of what is likely to happen.
23.
The editorialist's reasoning is flawed ██ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ████
a
the law may ████ █████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████████
The author never assumes that the law doesn’t have other purposes. If there are other purposes, that doesn’t undermine the author’s reasoning. What matters is whether the lawmakers are aware of the historical patterns associated with silencing dissenters.
b
certain freedoms might █████████ ████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████
The author never takes a position on whether silencing dissenters is necessary or unnecessary. The issue is whether the lawmakers are aware of the historical patterns associated with silencing dissenters.
c
some historical accounts ██████ ████ █████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████████ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ██ █████████████ ███████
The author acknowledges that silencing dissenters “has tended” to promote authoriatarian regimes. That allows for some cases where silencing dissenters has weakened authoritarian regimes.
d
many good laws ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████
Whether the laws are “good” is irrelevant. The issue whether the lawmakers are aware of the historical patterns associated with silencing dissenters.
e
even those who ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████
If people who are not ignorant of history can repeat its patterns, then the mere fact that the lawmakers are repeating its patterns does not establish that they are ignorant of those patterns. They might be aware of those patterns.