Ramona: One of the primary values of a university education is the intellectual growth that results from exposure to a wide range of ideas. Too many students miss this because they choose technical majors only to improve their chances on the job market. Recent pressures to graduate as quickly as possible only make matters worse.
Martin: But we have to be realistic. My brother graduated last year as an English major, but he’s working as a waiter. Anyway, you are forgetting that even students in technical majors are required to take some liberal arts classes.
Speaker 1 Summary
Ramona asserts three things about university education. First, one of the primary values of it is intellectual growth from exposure to a lot of different ideas. Second, too many students miss out on this growth because they choose technical majors. Third, pressures to graduate quickly encourage students to miss out on intellectual growth.
Speaker 2 Summary
Martin points out that job prospects matter. And, students in technical majors are still required to take some liberal arts classes, which suggests they might still be able to get intellectual growth.
Objective
We’re looking for a point of agreement. This is difficult to anticipate, because neither speaker makes an argument. They seem to agree that there are students who are choosing technical majors. They also agree that the choice of major may have some connection to job prospects.
A
students are stimulated to grow intellectually only in English classes
Neither expresses an opinion about this. Ramona doesn’t specify any particular non-technical major and whether that major alone can stimulate growth. Martin mentions English, but doesn’t indicate only English can stimulate intellectual growth.
B
only graduates with degrees in technical subjects get good jobs
Neither expresses an opinion about this. Ramona believes students choose technical majors to improve their job prospects. This doesn’t mean non-technical majors cannot get good jobs. Martin also doesn’t say anything about whether technical majors are required for good jobs.
C
not every university class exposes students to a wide range of ideas
The speakers agree. Ramona thinks some students in technical majors miss out on a wide range of ideas. Martin points to the fact technical majors must take some liberal arts classes. Thus, they both think some technical classes don’t expose students to a wide range of ideas.
D
intellectual growth is more important than financial security
The speakers arguably disagree. Ramona seems to value intellectual growth above job prospects / financial security. Martin suggest it’s OK for students to value financial security more than intellectual growth.
E
financial security is more important than intellectual growth
The speakers arguably disagree. Ramona seems to value intellectual growth above job prospects / financial security. Martin suggest it’s OK for students to value financial security more than intellectual growth.
Mario: The field of cognitive science is not a genuinely autonomous discipline since it addresses issues also addressed by the disciplines of computer science, linguistics, and psychology. A genuinely autonomous discipline has a domain of inquiry all its own.
Lucy: Nonsense. You’ve always acknowledged that philosophy is a genuinely autonomous discipline and that, like most people, you think of philosophy as addressing issues also addressed by the disciplines of linguistics, mathematics, and psychology. A field of study is a genuinely autonomous discipline by virtue of its having a unique methodology rather than by virtue of its addressing issues that no other field of study addresses.
Speaker 1 Summary
Mario says that cognitive science is not a genuinely autonomous discipline. Why not? Because a genuinely autonomous discipline must have a unique domain of inquiry, but the domain of cognitive science overlaps with other disciplines.
Speaker 2 Summary
Lucy disagrees with Mario’s definition of what makes a discipline genuinely autonomous. She claims that a genuinely autonomous discipline is defined by a unique methodology, not a unique domain of inquiry. Lucy supports this with the example of philosophy, which Mario agrees is autonomous despite the fact that its domain overlaps with several other fields.
Objective
We need to find a point of disagreement. Mario and Lucy disagree on what defines a genuinely autonomous discipline. Mario thinks it’s a unique domain, but Lucy thinks it’s a unique methodology.
A
If a field of study that has a unique methodology lacks a domain of inquiry all its own, it can nonetheless be a genuinely autonomous discipline.
Mario disagrees with this, but Lucy agrees. Mario claims that a unique domain of inquiry is a necessary requirement for a genuinely autonomous discipline. Lucy thinks that a unique methodology is necessary but a unique domain is not. This is a point of disagreement.
B
If a field of study is not a genuinely autonomous discipline, it can still have a unique methodology.
Neither speaker mentions the characteristics that any field that is not a genuinely autonomous discipline can or cannot have. We just don’t know.
C
All fields of study that are characterized by a unique methodology and by a domain of inquiry all their own are genuinely autonomous disciplines.
Each speaker proposes one of these only as a necessary condition for a genuinely autonomous discipline. However, we don’t know if either speaker thinks that these conditions, together or apart, are sufficient to make a domain genuinely autonomous.
D
Any field of study that is not a genuinely autonomous discipline lacks both a unique domain of inquiry and a unique methodology.
Neither speaker gives an opinion on this entire statement. To each speaker, lacking one of these conditions is sufficient to make a field not autonomous. However, neither speaker implies that the lack of both conditions is necessary for a field not to be autonomous.
E
Any field of study that is not a genuinely autonomous discipline addresses issues also addressed by disciplines that are genuinely autonomous.
Neither speaker gives an opinion about this. Mario thinks that focusing on unique issues is necessary for a discipline to be genuinely autonomous, but we don’t know if he thinks there are other necessary conditions as well. We know even less about Lucy’s opinion.
Christina: I disagree with your view, even though I agree that a shift in economic policy is needed. If one wants to teach a horse to jump fences, one should train it to jump lower heights first.