Logical Reasoning

PT129 · S3 · Q8 City council member: The Senior Guild

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City council member: The Senior Guild has asked for a temporary exception to the ordinance prohibiting automobiles in municipal parks.

Conclusion

We must deny the Senior Guild's request.

Evidence

Got to prevent anarchy! How would granting the Senior Guild's request lead to anarchy? Well if we grant this exception, even though it is deserved, we'll be granting other exceptions which won't be merited. Soon thereafter, we'll be granting exceptions to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that come wandering off the street.

Evaluation

Couldn't they just not grant exceptions to undeserved parties? We could certainly call out their assumption that "excessively granting exceptions to city ordinances" qualifies as "anarchy". But the most objectionable line of attack just seems to be this dubious move from, To which we might reply: no you don't. Just give cookies to the people who deserve them. Similarly, we want to tell this council member,

Goal

Look for something reflecting the internal contradiction of or something challenging the slippery slope argument he's making.

8.

The city council member's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it

  1. distorts an argument and then

    Bad Premise Match

    The author doesn't dissect the Senior Guild's argument, other than to say he basically agrees with it. This answer choice describes a somewhat famous flaw called Straw Man.

    2% picked this

  2. dismisses a claim because of

    Bad Premise Match

    The evidence doesn't say anything bad about The Senior Guild. In fact, the author seems sympathetic to their cause. This answer describes the famous flaw Ad Hominem, in which you reject someone's ideas based on their past behavior, vested interest, or ulterior motive.

    0% picked this

  3. Correct

    presumes, without sufficient warrant, that

    Why this is right

    Is the author assuming that one event will lead to a particular causal sequence? Yes, he's saying "If we grant this exception, we'll end up granting other exceptions and then we'll end up granting exceptions to other ordinances. Has he sufficiently convinced us of this Slippery Slope? No, it seems entirely possible to just grant the deserved exception for the Senior Guild without also giving it to non-deserving parties.

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

    93% picked this

  4. contains premises that contradict one

    Bad Premise Match

    There aren't any premises that contradict each other. The premises are just that "If we do X, Y and Z will occur. So if we want to avoid those unsavory consequences, we shouldn't do X." There's no contradiction there. This describes a Famous Flaw called Internal Contradiction.

    1% picked this

  5. fails to make a needed

    Opposite / Bad Premise Match

    This is tempting, in the sense that we're screaming at the author, "Just give the Senior Guild its deserved exception. There's no reason to think it'll lead to undeserved exceptions. The city council can distinguish between deserved and undeserved ones." This author fails to consider that the city council can distinguish between deserved exceptions and undeserved ones. But this author doesn't fail to see the difference between the two. His whole argument is based on the idea that the two are different: he's saying, "I would be fine with this first exception, but since it would lead to these different (distinguished) exceptions that are undeserved, I don't think we should do it."

    4% picked this

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