Waller: If there were really

Answer choices

1. A

   Neither Comments1% picked this

   extrasensory perception is a real

   This was all hypothetical, so we don't know either author's stance on whether ESP actually exists.

   1%
2. B

   Too Strong47% picked this

   extrasensory perception, if it were a real phenomenon, could be demonstrated to the satisfaction

   We know that Chin would disagree with this, as he does explicitly in his first sentence. However, we don't have support that Waller would agree to this incredibly extreme claim. She believes that ESP, if real, could be accepted by the general public, but that's a much lower bar than "convincing to all skeptics".

   47%
3. C

   Trap3% picked this

   skeptics about extrasensory perception have a

   Neither Commits Out of Scope: Weak Case These were hypothetical statements about how people would react. There was nothing evaluative about ESP or how the general public would react. So we have no idea whether either author would consider skeptics of ESP to currently have a weak case.

   3%
4. D

   Correct45% picked this

   the failure of the general public to believe in extrasensory perception is good evidence

   Why this is right

   Brutal! We might want to look at this in conditional-argument form. The PREMISE is good evidence of the CONCLUSION. Turning this argument into conditional form: General pub fails to accept ESP → ESP does not exist Contrapositive? ESP exists → General pub accepts ESP Okay, well Waller definitely agreed with that contrapositive; that sounds like his very first claim. And as we examined before, Chin disagreed with that very first claim. So we can say that Waller would agree to this answer and Chin would disagree. More conversationally, Chin would disagree by saying, "the fact that the public doesn't believe in ESP isn't good evidence that ESP doesn't exist. It's only good evidence that the elite don't believe in ESP, because the elite influence the media which influences the general public.

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

   45%
5. E

   Both Disagree4% picked this

   the general public believes that extrasensory perception is a

   While not explicitly stated, it seems like both authors would agree that the general public is not currently believing in ESP. Waller wouldn't formulate a hypothetical that said, "if ESP were real, the general public would believe it" if the general public already believes it.

   4%