Logical Reasoning

PT110 · S2 · Q21 Professor Chan: The literature department’s

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Professor Chan: The literature department's undergraduate courses should cover only true literary works, and not such frivolous material as advertisements.

Conclusion (Therefore)

It is the literature department's responsibility to include the study of advertisements in its undergrad courses.

Evidence

The lit dept's courses give students the critical skill to analyze and understand texts.

Advertisements have a powerfully detrimental effect on society, largely because people cannot discern their real messages.

Evaluate

The author's conclusion is that . Does the author ever define what the literature department is responsible for covering?

No, there's no rule that says, .

So the author is making some assumption there. What do we know about advertisements?

They have a detrimental effect on society because people can't discern their real messages.

What do we know about the Lit Department?

They give students the critical skills to analyze and understand texts.

The author seems to be thinking that by teaching advertisements, we can give people the critical skills to discern the real messages of ads, and thus ameliorate the detrimental effect that ads have on society.

Goal

For a Linking answer, we would want something like, .

A possible objection could be that So we could also see a Defender answer that feels like, .

21.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which Professor Wigmore's argument depends?

Texts that are true literary
Too Strong: never
Wigmore's argument has nothing to do with "true literary works", so we can really stop reading there. But this is also an absurdly extreme claim that Wigmore did not commit herself to. If we negate this and say, "There is at least one text that was a true literary work that had some detrimental effect on society", it would have no effect on the argument.
2% picked this
Courses offered by the literature
Too Strong: cannot
Wigmore's argument has nothing to do with "true literary works", so we can really stop reading there. This is another very extreme claim that Wigmore did not commit herself to. If we negate this and say, "Courses offered by the LIt Department can include both ads and true literary works", that would have no effect on the argument.
3% picked this
Students who take courses in
Too Strong
Too Strong: no other skills Only Mentioned ? Only This is saying that the only skills students get from Literature Department courses is the skill of analyzing and understanding texts. Necessary Assumption loves to give this type of trap answer. The only skills mentioned in the paragraph are "analyze and understand texts", but that doesn't imply that those are therefore the only skills. When I say, "Irish people love Christmas", I am not implying that "Irish people are the only people who love Christmas".
11% picked this
Forms of advertising that convey
Out of Scope: entirely through visual
Wigmore's argument is about all advertisements. This answer is about a specific subset: those ads that convey messages entirely through visual images. Since Wigmore never discussed this specific subset, we can't accuse her of assuming any specific beliefs about this subcategory of ads.
3% picked this
Correct
The literature department’s responsibility is
Why this is right
This is a surprising correct answer. It's worth considering because it's using ruling-out language (not), which is the hallmark of so many correct Necessary Assumption answers. If we negate this and say, "The literature department's responsibility is limited to teaching students how to analyze true literary works", does that hurt the argument? Yes. Wigmore is acknowledging in her first sentence that ads might not be true literary works. If they aren't true literary works, then according to this negation the literature department has no responsibility to teach them. The possibility that ads belong to a category of things that this department has "no responsibility to teach" badly weakens the argument. So this works as a correct answer.
Skill tested: Necessary Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
82% picked this

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