Logical Reasoning

PT114 · S2 · Q19 Their statements commit Professors

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Professor Beckstein: American Sign Language is the native language of many North Americans.

Becksteins Claims

(explicit) 1. ASL is the native language of many N. Americans 2. ASL is not a foreign language 3. No students should be permitted to satisfy the university's foreign language requirement by learning it.

(implicit) 1 → 2. If X is a native language of many North Americans, then it's not a foreign language. 2 → 3. If X isn't a foreign language, then no student should be allowed to satisfy the university's foreign language requirement by learning it. 1 → 3. If X is a native language of many North Americans, then no student should be allowed to satisfy the university's foreign language requirement by learning it.

Sedleys responses

1. No comment 2. No comment 3. No comment

1 → 2. Kinda disagrees. Disagreeing would mean that you're saying . While it appears that Sedely would consider French and Spanish examples of this, she technically never establishes that she consider them foreign languages.

2 → 3. Kinda disagrees. Sedley thinks that it's okay for a student to satisfy the university's foreign language requirement by learning a language that is the native language of many North Americans. But disagreeing with Beckstein's final move means saying, Sedley doesn't provide a clear example of "X isn't a foreign language but it is okay to satisfy the foreign language requirement.

1 → 3. Definitely disagrees.

Evaluate / Goal

Beckstein makes a three part argument: X is native lang → X is not a → Can't satisfy of many NA's foreign lang foreign lang req w/ X

Taken together, Beckstein thinks that if X is a native language of many North Americans, then learning it can't satisfy the university's foreign language requirement.

Sedley disagrees. She gives the examples of French and Spanish, which are the native language of many North Americans, but clearly can satisfy the university's foreign language requirement.

So let's look for an answer addressing the connection between those two concepts.

19.

Their statements commit Professors Beckstein and Sedley to disagreeing about which one of the following?

  1. whether American Sign Language is

    Unsupported Disagree Position

    We know that B agrees with this, but we can't support that S disagrees with this, especially since S never once talks about ASL.

    1% picked this

  2. whether any North American whose

    Unsupported Agree Position

    We can't derive this extreme claim from either paragraph, because neither author espoused some universal idea about all North Americans whose native language is not English.

    5% picked this

  3. whether the university ought to

    Unsupported Agree Position

    We wouldn't be able to derive this from either set of statements. They both acknowledge that there is a foreign language requirement, but neither of them editorializes on whether it's a good or bad thing, whether it should be retained to rejected.

    2% picked this

  4. whether any other universities in

    Unsupported Agree Position

    We can't derive this claim from either set of statements, because neither author speaks about other universities.

    3% picked this

  5. Correct

    whether the fact that a

    Why this is right

    This is what we predicted. B agrees with this. He thinks that if X is the native language of many North Americans, then it's not a foreign language, and that if it's not a foreign language, then it can't satisfy the foreign language requirement. So he thinks that if X is the native language of many North Americans, then X can't satisfy the foreign language requirement. We know that S disagrees with this, because she makes the case that there are examples (such as French and Spanish) in which X is the native language of many North Americans, but X can still satisfy the foreign language requirement.

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

    90% picked this

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