Self-study
Camille: Manufacturers of water-saving faucets exaggerate the amount of money such faucets can save. ███████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ █ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ██████████
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Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
Rebecca concludes that manufacturers don’t overestimate how much money their faucets save users because she’s paid less on her water bills since she started using one of their faucets.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The problem here is that we still don’t know what the manufacturers’ claims were. In order to conclude that their claims are not exaggerated, Rebecca would need to prove that she’s saved as much as they claimed she would, but they may have claimed that their faucets save significantly more money than Rebecca has saved. Her water costs decreasing by an unspecified amount does not prove that the manufacturers gave accurate savings estimates.
15.
The reasoning in Rebecca's argument ██ ████████████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ████
a
the cost of ██████████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ████
It’s irrelevant how her overall savings compare to the installation cost. All that matters is how her savings compare to the manufacturer’s claims. The manufacturers could have claimed that she'd save a certain amount per month; we don't know that their claim relates to overall savings compared to installation cost.
b
she saved as ████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████
This describes Rebecca’s failure to establish how her savings compare to the manufacturers’ claims. Her argument fails if she’s saved less than the manufacturers claimed she would.
c
the manufacturers' claims █████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████
Rebecca assumes nothing about how the manufacturers’ estimates compare to each other. She assumes that their claims are consistent with how much she saved.
d
people who use ████████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████
Rebecca’s argument is only concerned with the accuracy of the manufacturer’s savings estimates, not whether customers are satisfied or not.
e
installing more water-saving ███████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████
Rebecca doesn’t make any claim about what would hypothetically happen if she installed more faucets. She only claims that the manufacturers didn’t exaggerate.