Logical Reasoning

PT103 · S1 · Q25 Gregory does which one of the following

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Sasha: Handwriting analysis should be banned in court as evidence of a person’s character: handwriting analysts called as witnesses habitually exaggerate the reliability of their analyses.

Sasha's Conclusion

The courts should ban handwriting analysis as evidence of character.

Sasha's Evidence

Handwriting analysts routinely exaggerate the reliability of their analysis.

Greg's Response

The current use of handwriting is definitely shady, but it's because there's no licensing board to set professional standards and deter this routine exaggeration of reliability. Once we have a licensing board, handwriting analysis could have a legitimate court presence as evidence of character.

Evaluate

Greg's response is mainly agreeing with Sasha. He only differs by saying, Greg identifies a causal difference-maker that currently makes handwriting analysis sketchy (lack of licensing board). He argues that if we flipped this causal difference-maker, then we'd be fine.

Goal

Hard to know what wording to predict. I would think something like, , or

25.

Gregory does which one of the following in responding to Sasha's argument?

  1. He ignores evidence introduced as

    Contradicted

    He explicitly acknowledges and agrees with Sasha's evidence (irresponsible analysts making exaggerated claims).

    5% picked this

  2. Correct

    He defends a principle by

    Why this is right

    Wow, what a terrible correct answer. We can probably get on board with the idea that Greg is low key defending handwriting analysis. Sasha wants to ban it from courts, whereas Greg is saying it will one day be a legitimate courtroom tool for character assessment. And Greg is qualifying his endorsement (announcing an important caveat) -- he doesn't think that handwriting analysis is currently doing so great. But he's saying, if we restrict this conversation to the class of cases in which a licensing board is established, then he can defend the principle that "handwriting analysis should be allowed in court as evidence of a character". I would never give this answer the time of day on a first pass, but ultimately it's the only thing we can stretch to fit the text.

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

    74% picked this

  3. He abstracts a general principle

    Bad Conclusion/Premise Match

    Greg isn't doing anything resembling presenting specific examples and then extrapolating a general principle. He's just defending the potential value of handwriting analysis by identifying the current, but surmountable, problem with it.

    12% picked this

  4. He identifies a self-contradictory statement

    Too Strong: self-contradictory

    Whenever you see "contradiction" or "self-contradiction" on any question, you should be deeply suspicious. The ratio of times it's wrong to times it's right is probably 25:1 or worse. Greg never says that Sasha said both X and not-X. A self-contradictory statement is hard to even think of. Easy things are always difficult. Hot things are always cold. I don't know how to write a sentence.

    2% picked this

  5. He shows that Sasha’s argument

    Bad Evidence Match

    Sasha's argument condemns the undesirable characteristic of handwriting analysts exaggerating the reliability of their analyses. Greg never says to Sasha, "You're exaggerating the reliability of your analysis!"

    7% picked this

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