Self-study
Columnist: Donating items to charity may be a sign of generosity, but Conclusion any generosity it may demonstrate is rarely a permanent virtue, since Support most donors make donations only intermittently.
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that any generosity that is demonstrated by donating items to charity is usually not a permanent character trait. This is based on the fact that most donors make donations only intermittently (from time to time).
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that in order for generosity to be a permanent trait, one must continuously take actions that demonstrate generosity. This overlooks the possibility that generosity can be permanent, even if actions that demonstrate it are taken only intermittently.
4.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ █ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████
a
The argument takes ███ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ █████████
Neither the premise nor the conclusion concern who is the “most” virtuous. Whether generous people are more or less virtuous than others doesn’t affect the reasoning.
b
The argument attacks ███ █████████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████
There’s no attack on the character of anyone. The argument concerns the trait of generosity, but the author doesn’t comment on whether any person or group has a particular character trait.
c
The argument takes ███ ███████ ████ █ █████████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ███████████
The argument assumes that a character trait (generosity) is present only when manifested (only if people are donating). This overlooks the possibility that a character trait can be permanent even if people do not show that trait through actions.
d
The argument generalizes ████ ███ █████ █ ██████ ██ ██████
The premise concerns “most donors.” The author doesn’t conclude anything about all donors, or conclude anything about actions besides donation. So there’s no inappropriate generalization. We also don’t know anything about the # of donors, so can’t say any sample is “too small.”
e
The argument takes ███ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████████
The author notes that donating items “may” be a sign of generosity. This doesn’t imply the author believes most people who donate items are doing so because of generosity.