Logical Reasoning

PT154 · S2 · Q6 Video games are commonly criticized

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Video games are commonly criticized as morally corrupting in that they allow people to imagine themselves transgressing conventional morality.

Given

Video games are commonly criticized as morally corrupting in that they allow people to imagine themselves transgressing conventional morality.

But it is telling that precisely this criticism was leveled against many forms of popular culture in their early stages of development, including novels, movies, and rock music.

It now seems silly to suggest that reading novels is morally corrupting

Evaluate

This argument doesn't contain a clear conclusion indicator word like "thus," or even a clear premise indicator like "since." However, it does seem to follow a common pattern.

The first sentence describes a common belief.

The next sentence begins with a pivot indicator, "but." The statements that follow the pivot indicator refute the common belief presented in the first sentence.

When we see the phrase "and just as" at the beginning of the very last sentence, it indicates that whatever goes in the blank should continue in this direction that the argument is headed: it should continue to refute the idea presented in the first sentence.

The argument compares the current criticism of video games to earlier criticism of novels, movies, and rock music, stating that these were also seen as morally corrupting. The argument claims that it now seems silly to criticize novels this way.

We would expect this argument to conclude that it seems equally silly to suggest that video games are morally corrupting.

Goal

A correct answer might indicate that the current criticism of video games is silly. Beware of answers that are too strong as well as ones that seem relevant but actually bring in ideas that go beyond the scope of the stimulus. Also beware of answers that describe unsupported relationships between the concepts in the stimulus.

6.

Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?

  1. we should expect most new

    Too Strong: most

    The argument compares video games to a few other forms of pop culture—novels, movies, and rock music. We aren't told if these examples are typical or representative of most forms of pop culture. An answer like this one, which makes a prediction about "most new forms of popular culture," is too strong. We might even say that new forms of popular culture other than video games are outside the scope of the argument.

    4% picked this

  2. we should prefer forms of

    Unsupported Comparison: preferred

    The argument doesn't compare different forms of pop culture in any way which supports the idea that one should be preferred over another.

    0% picked this

  3. Correct

    we can expect these concerns

    Why this is right

    This might not be exactly what we predicted, but it is strongly supported. The beginning of the final sentence in the argument describes the criticism of novels as "silly." Instead of directly piggybacking off of that by saying that current criticism of video games is also silly, this answer plays off of a comment in the preceding sentence. That sentence mentions novels and other forms of popular culture being criticized "in their early stages of development." If it seems "silly" to criticize novels that way now, that supports the idea that this particular criticism of novels has faded. Thus, we would also expect the current criticism of video games to fade.

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

    93% picked this

  4. we should condemn forms of

    Too Strong: condemn Opposite (if anything)

    The argument only talks about criticism. Condemning is generally seen as much stronger than merely criticizing. If you're not totally convinced that a difference between condemn vs. criticize is enough to make this answer incorrect, let's dig deeper. According to the argument, what is the correct way to view forms of popular culture that allow people to imagine themselves transgressing conventional morality? It's not entirely clear, but the argument indicates that it's silly to view this as "morally corrupting." You might reasonably conclude that the argument is refuting the criticism as a whole, including the idea that video games actually allow people to imagine themselves transgressing conventional morality. If anything, the argument supports the opposite of what this answer choice is stating.

    1% picked this

  5. it is silly to suggest

    Opposite (if anything)

    A correct answer would state that the current criticism of video games is silly. This answer states that it would be silly to disagree with one aspect of the criticism: in other words, we should agree with this aspect of the criticism. To take it even a bit further, the person making this argument might or might not agree that video games allow people to imagine themselves transgressing conventional morality. The argument isn't really about whether or not video games allow people to do this; the point is that video games are not morally corrupting even if they do allow people to do this.

    2% picked this

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