Logical Reasoning

PT111 · S4 · Q19 Several critics have claimed that

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Several critics have claimed that any contemporary poet who writes formal poetry—poetry that is rhymed and metered—is performing a politically conservative act.

Conclusion (rebuttal)

This is plainly false.

rephrase: At least some contemporary poets who write formal poetry are not performing a politically conservative act.

Evidence

Molly P. and Marilyn H. are contemporary poets whose poetry is almost exclusively formal, but they are politically progressive feminists.

Evaluate

The author is refuting a conditional. That conditional is:

contemporary poet → performing politically who writes formal poetry conservative act

In order to refute a conditional, we have to say that the Left doesn't guarantee the Right: there is at least one case where the Left is true but the Right isn't.

So the author's job is to prove that there's at least one case where it's true that someone is a contemporary poet who writes formal poetry, but it's not true that they are performing a politically conservative act.

The author is trying to do that with the two putative counterexamples of Molly and Marilyn.

Does the author establish that M&M are contemporary poets who write formal poetry?

Yes.

Does the author establish that M&M do not perform a politically conservative act?

No. The author only establishes that M&M are politically progressive feminists.

Goal

The author seems to be thinking, .

(Naturally, this doesn't have to be true. One could be a politically progressive feminist, by subscribing to progressive and feminist ideology, while still performing a politically conservative action now and then.)

Our #1 goal is to prove that Molly and/or Marilyn "do not perform a politically conservative act". If an answer doesn't have that New Concept in the Conclusion, then it's worthless to us.

19.

The conclusion drawn above follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

  1. No one who is a

    Bad Conclusion Match

    This would prove that Molly and Marilyn, who are feminists, are not politically conservative. We actually already knew that; we were told that they're politically progressive (and progressive is a logical opposite of conservative). But this doesn't prove the conclusion. Someone who isn't politically conservative can still perform a politically conservative act. (I might be super liberal but perform the politically conservative act of joining the NRA). So since this answer doesn't speak to whether M&M ever perform politically conservative acts, this doesn't allow us prove the conclusion.

    18% picked this

  2. No poet who writes unrhymed

    Bad Evidence / Conclusion Match

    This answer provides a rule that allows one to prove that a person is not politically conservative. So just like (A), it doesn't prove that a person hasn't committed a politically conservative act. Even worse than (A) is the fact that this rule wouldn't apply to our girls M&M. This rule says, "if you're a poet who writes unrhymed or unmetered poetry, then ....", but M&M write rhymed and metered poetry almost exclusively.

    4% picked this

  3. Correct

    No one who is politically

    Why this is right

    This is the only answer with the New Concept in the Conclusion: "performing a politically conservative act". Molly and Marilyn are politically progressive. Thus according to this answer, they are incapable of performing a politically conservative act. Since M&M are contemporary poets who write formal poetry, we can prove it's false to say that "all contemporary poets who write formal poetry are performing a politically conservative act". M&M must be counterexamples to that rule, because they're contemporary poets who write formal poetry, but they're incapable of performing a politically conservative act. So we've proven the conclusion.

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

    70% picked this

  4. Anyone who sometimes writes poetry

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer doesn't have the New Concept in the Conclusion: performing a politically conservative act. This answer is just talking about whether someone's poetry is politically conservative or not. It doesn't speak about whether they are performing a politically conservative act. This answer also provides a rule whose trigger doesn't apply to M&M. It says, "If you sometimes write poetry that is not politically conservative ..." Were we told that M&M sometimes write poetry that is not politically conservative? No. We weren't told anything about their poetry. We were only told that they themselves are progressive.

    2% picked this

  5. The content of a poet’s

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer doesn't have the New Concept in the Conclusion: "performing a politically conservative act". This answer is also squishy, making it not a good contender for a correct answer on Sufficient Assumption. It singles out one thing as the most decisive factor, but that doesn't mean that factor is sufficient to prove some other idea. So we wouldn't get any logical guarantee out of this answer, based on strength of language. We have to prove that M&M do not perform politically conservative acts, and this answer doesn't have the power to prove that sort of language.

    6% picked this

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