Carolyn: The artist Marc Quinn has displayed, behind a glass plate, biologically replicated fragments of Sir John Sulston’s DNA, calling it a “conceptual portrait” of Sulston. But to be a portrait, something must bear a recognizable resemblance to its subject.

Arnold: I disagree. Quinn’s conceptual portrait is a maximally realistic portrait, for it holds actual instructions according to which Sulston was created.

Speaker 1 Summary
Carolyn’s implicit conclusion is that the “portrait” of Sulston isn’t actually a portrait. This is because in order for something to be a portrait of a thing, it must have a recognizable resemblance to that thing. Sulston’s “portrait” is just fragments of DNA, which Carolyn thinks does not resemble Sulston.

Speaker 2 Summary
Arnold believes the “portrait” is a portrait. This is because it contains the genetic instructions according to which Sulston was created.

Objective
We’re looking for a disagreement. The speakers disagree on whether the “portrait” is really a portrait. Carolyn thinks it isn’t. Arnold thinks it is.

A
should be considered to be art
Neither speaker has an opinion. Nobody discusses what is or is not art, only what is or is not a portrait.
B
should be considered to be Quinn’s work
Neither speaker has an opinion. Nobody discusses whether the work is appropriately considered Quinn’s.
C
bears a recognizable resemblance to Sulston
Arnold has no opinion. He doesn’t suggest that the portrait does or does not resemble Sulston. Arnold simply applies a different rule, unrelated to resemblance, for determining that something is a portrait.
D
contains instructions according to which Sulston was created
Carolyn has no opinion. She doesn’t speak to whether the DNA fragments contain instructions according to which Sulston was created.
E
is actually a portrait of Sulston
This is a point of disagreement. Carolyn’s implicit conclusion is that it’s not a portrait of Sulston. Arnold’s conclusion is that it is a portrait of Sulston.

10 comments

Many corporations have begun decorating their halls with motivational posters in hopes of boosting their employees’ motivation to work productively. However, almost all employees at these corporations are already motivated to work productively. So these corporations’ use of motivational posters is unlikely to achieve its intended purpose.

A
fails to consider whether corporations that do not currently use motivational posters would increase their employees’ motivation to work productively if they began using the posters

The author’s argument only addresses “these corporations’ use of motivational posters,” referring to the many corporations who have already begun hanging motivational posters. Whether any other corporations might benefit from the posters is irrelevant.

B
takes for granted that, with respect to their employees’ motivation to work productively, corporations that decorate their halls with motivational posters are representative of corporations in general

This is the cookie-cutter flaw of hasty generalization. The author doesn’t make this mistake. Her conclusion isn’t about corporations in general, it’s only about the corporations that decorate their halls with motivational posters.

C
fails to consider that even if motivational posters do not have one particular beneficial effect for corporations, they may have similar effects that are equally beneficial

Even if motivational posters do have other beneficial effects, this doesn’t impact the author’s argument. Her conclusion is simply that the posters are unlikely to achieve their intended purpose, which is to boost employees’ motivation to work productively.

D
does not adequately address the possibility that employee productivity is strongly affected by factors other than employees’ motivation to work productively

The author’s argument is only about the posters’ effect on employees’ motivation to work productively. Whether their productivity is also affected by other factors is irrelevant.

E
fails to consider that even if employees are already motivated to work productively, motivational posters may increase that motivation

The author assumes that the posters won’t boost motivation, just because the employees at these corporations are already motivated. She fails to consider that the posters could increase employees’ motivation even more.


8 comments

Essayist: Knowledge has been defined as a true belief formed by a reliable process. This definition has been criticized on the grounds that if someone had a reliable power of clairvoyance, we would not accept that person’s claim to know certain things on the basis of this power. I agree that we would reject such claims, but we would do so because we really do not believe in clairvoyance as a reliable process. Were we to believe in clairvoyance, we would accept knowledge claims made on the basis of it.

Summarize Argument
After defining knowledge as a true belief formed by a reliable process, the essayist concludes we would reject a person’s claim to know certain things because clairvoyance is not a reliable process. As evidence, the essayist states that if we were to believe in clairvoyance, we would accept a person’s claims of knowledge made on the basis of it.

Describe Method of Reasoning
The essayist describes an alternative reason why we would reject a person’s claim to know certain things by means of clairvoyance. He does this by shifting the reason for this belief from the claim that clairvoyance isn’t knowledge to the claim that clairvoyance is not a reliable process.

A
asserting that the objection is based on a belief about the reliability of clairvoyance rather than on the nature of knowledge or its definition
The objection is the essayist’s agreement that we would reject clairvoyance as a case of knowledge. The essayist bases this objection by stating clairvoyance is not a reliable process.
B
asserting that the case of clairvoyance is one of knowledge even though we do not really believe in clairvoyance as a reliable process
The essayist does not assert that the case of clairvoyance is knowledge. In fact, the essayist agrees we would reject this claim. The essayist only disputes the reason for why we would reject this claim.
C
arguing against the assumption that clairvoyance is unreliable
The essayist does not think that clairvoyance is reliable. In fact, the essayist asserts that clairvoyance is not a case of knowledge because it is an unreliable process.
D
explaining that the definition of knowledge is a matter of personal choice
The essayist does not factor in personal choice when it comes to determining what is knowledge. The essayist starts his argument by defining what knowledge is, and there’s no element of personal choice in this definition.
E
demonstrating that the case of clairvoyance is not a case of knowledge and does not fit the definition of knowledge
This is the essayist’s conclusion, but this answer does not describe the reasoning the essayist undertook to reach this conclusion. The reasoning addresses why the essayist is able to demonstrate these two things.

38 comments