Logical Reasoning

PT106 · S2 · Q24 Marianne is a professional chess player

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Marianne is a professional chess player who hums audibly while playing her matches, thereby distracting her opponents.

Conclusion (therefore / should)

I shouldn't be held responsible for my humming.

Intermediate Conclusion

My humming is involuntary.

Premise (since)

I was unaware I was humming.

Evaluate

We're trying to support a conclusion that says "should not be held responsible for X", so we'll need an answer choice set up like, .

The author's reason for not thinking she should be held responsible is that she was unaware she was humming and thus the humming was involuntary.

Goal

We would anticipate potential correct answers like,

If unaware of X → not responsible for X

or like

If X is involuntary → not responsible for X

24.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to support Marianne's argument against the order?

  1. Chess players who hum audibly

    Bad Conclusion Match

    We need a rule that helps us derive "should not be held responsible for X". This rule doesn't contain any wording like that. This rule would only allow us to derive a conclusion like "should not protest X".

    0% picked this

  2. Correct

    Of a player’s actions, only

    Why this is right

    We might sidestep this answer on a first pass because it doesn't contain an exact match for our conclusion's wording "should not be held responsible for X". But it does allow us to say, "should not be used as justification for disqualifying from pro chess", so it's still pretty relevant to Marianne's situation. It says, If an action is → should not be used as reason not voluntary for disqualifying from pro chess Marianne's humming is involuntary, so according to this rule, her humming should not be used as a justification for disqualifying her from professional chess. Her current situation is that chess officials have told her that any further humming on her part will disqualify her from professional chess. She is arguing that she shouldn't be 'held responsible' for the humming, and in this context being held responsible means suffering consequences from the chess officials. So this answer supports Marianne's claim that the humming shouldn't be used against her.

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

    96% picked this

  3. A person should be held

    Bad Conclusion Match

    We need a rule that helps us derive "should not be held responsible for X". This rule would only allow us to say what a person should be held responsible for.

    1% picked this

  4. Types of behavior that are

    Bad Conclusion Match

    We need a rule that helps us derive "should not be held responsible for X". This rule would only allow us to derive a conclusion like "X should not be considered voluntary". Had there been a principle that was saying "if unaware of X, then X should be considered voluntary", that could have still worked, because the author does have an Intermediate Conclusion ("the humming was involuntary") that we could support.

    1% picked this

  5. Chess players should be disqualified

    Bad Conclusion Match

    We need a rule that helps us derive "should not be held responsible for X". This rule would only allow us to derive a conclusion like "X should be disqualified from pro chess".

    1% picked this

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