Logical Reasoning

PT102 · S3 · Q1 Director of Ace Manufacturing Company

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Director of Ace Manufacturing Company: Our management consultant proposes that we reassign staff so that all employees are doing both what they like to do and what they do well.

Conclusion (Therefore)

Implementing the consultant's recommendation would cause us to violate our own policy.

rephrase: Reassigning staff so that all employees are doing both what they like and what they do well would cause us to exploit our workers.

Evidence

According to the consultant, following her advice will "increase productivity by fully exploiting our available resources".

Evaluate

Given that ... the consultant says that her plan will allow us to fully exploit our resources, and that ... the policy says "we will not exploit our workers",

How could we ague that ... the consultant's plan will not violate the policy?

Well, if the plan "will exploit" and the policy says to "not exploit", then we seem stuck. We would have to recognize that these are two different senses of the verb "to exploit".

When we encourage a bigger basketball player to "exert more force / use your height advantage" over their smaller opponent, we're saying "Exploit your advantage!" This just means "utilize your advantage".

This is a positive or at least neutral sense of "exploiting".

But when we talk about "exploitation", that's a negative. That refers to an unfair sense of manipulation caused by some power imbalance. When school systems underpay teachers and don't provide them with enough resources, they know that teachers care so much for their students that they'll work extra hours at home and buy supplies for students out of their own paycheck. That's the negative sense of exploitation.

The company's policy is pledging that the company won't make unfair use of its employees. It will avoid that negative sense of exploitation.

The consultant is talking about fully utilizing one's resources. That's a good thing.

Goal

This is one of the ten famous flaws, Equivocation. This flaw rarely occurs, but it shows up a lot in incorrect answers. But in this case, it's actually happening. The argument is using the same term/concept (exploit) two times as those they are copies of each other, but in reality they're being used with two very different definitions.

1.

The director's argument for rejecting the management consultant's proposal is most vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds?

  1. Correct

    failing to distinguish two distinct

    Why this is right

    This is describing the Equivocation flaw. The argument is failing to distinguish between the positive sense of "fully exploiting (utilizing) resources" and the negative sense of pledging to "avoid exploiting (unfairly treating) workers". Fully utilizing resources (assigning staff so that they are doing what they like to do and what they do well) doesn't feel like unfairly treating workers.

    Skill tested: Flaw · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    86% picked this

  2. attempting to defend an action

    Bad Conclusion Match

    Bad Conclusion Match: defend Bad Evidence Match: frequently "Attempting to X on the ground that Y" means that X is the Conclusion and Y is the evidence. The author's conclusion seems to be shooting down the consultant's action, not defending an action. And the evidence has nothing to do with citing how frequently exploitation occurs.

    2% picked this

  3. defining a term by pointing

    Bad Conclusion Match

    Bad Conclusion Match: define term Bad Evidence Match: atypical example "Doing X by doing Y" means that X is the Conclusion and Y is the evidence. The author's conclusion seems to be shooting down the consultant's action, not defining a term. And the evidence has nothing to do with citing any atypical example. The evidence just cites the company's commitment.

    9% picked this

  4. drawing a conclusion that simply

    Not Circular

    This answer describes one of the 10 famous flaws, Circular Reasoning, in which the premise restates or assumes the conclusion. This answer is almost always wrong. The conclusion says "implementing this recommendation would violate our policy". The evidence says "this company has a policy not to exploit workers". The 2nd claim is not restating the 1st claim.

    3% picked this

  5. calling something by a less

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: less offensive term Opposite (if anything) If anything, the author is calling something by a more offensive term than what would usually be used to name that thing. The author is saying that "assigning staff to jobs they like to do and are good at doing" would be exploiting these workers. Most people would usually not use such a negative label for having workers do what they like to do and do well.

    1% picked this

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