Logical Reasoning

PT152 · S4 · Q14 Max: As evidence mounts

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Max: As evidence mounts showing the terrible changes wrought on the environment by technology, the conclusion that humans must return to a natural way of living becomes irrefutable.

Max's Conclusion

Humans must return to a natural way of living.

Max's Evidence

Look at the terrible changes wrought on the environment by technology.

Cora's Conclusion

Your criticism is misguided. rephrased: It's doesn't make sense to say that humans must return to a natural way of living.

Cora's Evidence

Using technology in ways that create changes to the environment is natural for humans (we've done that for many thousands of years).

Evaluate

Cora is being a little cheeky here, almost committing what we might consider an Equivocation flaw.

Max was using the term "natural way of living" to mean that we would stop relying so much on technology and modernity and get back to being animals connected to the land.

Cora is sort of saying, She's using the word 'natural' to mean something that humans do naturally.

Naturally, no pun intended, the sort of technology humans used on the environment thousands of years ago might be setting fires to certain forests to make a clearing, or redirecting the water from a river into their crops.

The way technology is effecting the environment nowadays is profoundly different, given all the industrial processes and chemicals and emissions that have been invented in just the past 50-100 years.

Goal

Since they're asking how Cora's claim that relates to Max's argument, we can say two things:

1. It's her premise. It supports her conclusion, which rebuts Max's conclusion.

2. She is trying to re-define the term 'natural' to mean something different from what Max was implying.

14.

Cora's claim that it is natural for humans to use technology to effect changes on the environment plays which one of the following roles in her response to Max?

  1. Correct

    It is used to suggest

    Why this is right

    Max is saying, "Since our technology is doing terrible things to the environment, we should return to a natural way of living (one that doesn't use this modern technology)". And Cora is saying, "You can't pretend like our use of technology in modern times is an unnatural way of living. After all, it's been natural for humans to use technology for thousands of years. So your conclusion doesn't make any sense."

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

    81% picked this

  2. It is used to suggest

    Out of Scope: benefit

    There's no discussion of 'benefit'. Yes, I'm sure Cora and Max would agree that in most cases humans use technology (whether it relates to the environment or not) in the expectation of deriving some benefit from it. But nothing in this conversation is about whether or not humans benefit, or whether or not the environment sometimes suffers as a result. The conversation is just about whether humans' use of technology to affect the environment should be construed as an unnatural way of living or as a natural human trait.

    5% picked this

  3. It is used to suggest

    Bad Conclusion Match

    Max's conclusion was not that "technology has wrought terrible changes". That was his evidence.

    10% picked this

  4. It is used to suggest

    Out of Scope: modern conveniences

    Cora isn't saying anything about modern technology affording us modern conveniences that will make us reluctant to forfeit modern technology. She is just saying, "If humans return to a natural way of living, as Max suggests, they'll still be using technology to affect the environment, because for thousands of years that has been the natural way that humans have lived."

    2% picked this

  5. It is used to suggest

    Out of Scope: moral issue

    Neither speaker says anything relating to whether or not this is a moral issue.

    3% picked this

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