Logical Reasoning

PT156 · S2 · Q6 Some psychologists claim that empathic

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Some psychologists claim that empathic responses are forms of moral behavior.

Conclusion

Children lack the moral reasoning skill necessary for their behavior to count as moral.

Evidence

Children provided unsophisticated verbal responses to hypothetical moral dilemmas.

Evaluate

If we were going to try to argue that , how would we respond to the fact that they provided unsophisticated verbal responses to hypothetical moral dilemmas?

We might say the hypothetical moral dilemmas are dumb / irrelevant / exotic / unlikely to be something a child could weigh in on based on their deficient knowledge of the world (not their moral deficiency).

We might say that children aren't verbally talented enough to provide a sophisticated verbal response, even though their moral intuitions are still sophisticated. In other words, they aren't responding poorly out of a lack of moral prowess but rather out of a lack of verbal prowess.

Goal

Look for an answer that gives us a way to argue that kids do have moral reasoning skills or one that allows us to "make an excuse" for kids' poor verbal answers to these hypothetical moral dilemmas.

6.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the conclusion drawn by the second group of psychologists?

  1. The children studied by the

    No Impact

    When these kids gave their unsophisticated responses, where they tired or well rested? We don't know, which makes it hard to judge the impact of this answer. But even if they were tired, this answer is only saying that they would've performed "slightly better" if rested. That doesn't fundamentally challenge the conclusion.

    2% picked this

  2. Adults who respond to hypothetical

    No Impact

    This basically strengthens by ruling out the potential objection that the hypothetical moral dilemmas are a stupid / illegitimate way to test moral reasoning. If adults can do much better at these, then it helps the psychologists argue that the children's poor performance is due to their lack of moral reasoning skill.

    1% picked this

  3. The children studied by the

    No Impact

    We know overall that the children's responses to the hypothetical dilemmas were unsophisticated. The fact that some responses were slightly better than others doesn't change anything. The average of those responses was "unsophisticated". If a basketball player had a poor shooting night, the fact that their shooting percentages were slightly higher if they shot from this spot as opposed to that spot doesn't change the fact that overall they had a poor shooting night.

    3% picked this

  4. Correct

    In actual situations involving moral

    Why this is right

    This helps us argue that kids DO have moral reasoning skill, while giving us a way to respond to the author's evidence. If kids reason at a much higher level in actual moral situations than they do when responding to hypotheticals, then their weak performance on hypothetical dilemmas doesn't fairly represent children's real moral reasoning ability. The hypothetical test was undercounting their skill. Their poor performance seems more related to the test itself than to their moral reasoning.

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

    79% picked this

  5. Some adults who respond to

    No Impact

    This is a very weak idea (some = at least one), so it's very unlikely to be the answer with the most impact. The fact that some adults are tied with the kids could maybe suggest that the kids did well (they tied an adult!). But it could just as easily mean that this adult sucks at moral reasoning (they tied with children!)

    16% picked this

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