Quote:
Student representative: Our university, in expelling a student who verbally harassed his roommate, has erred by penalizing the student for doing what he surely has a right to do: speak his mind!
Dean of students: But what you’re saying is that our university should endorse verbal harassment. Yet surely if we did that, we would threaten the free flow of ideas that is the essence of university life.
Which one of the following is a questionable technique that the dean of students uses in attempting to refute the student representative?
(A) challenging the student representative’s knowledge of the process by which the student was expelled
(B) invoking a fallacious distinction between speech and other sorts of behavior
(C) misdescribing the student representative’s position, thereby making it easier to challenge
(D) questioning the motives of the student representative rather than offering reasons for the conclusion defended
(E) relying on a position of power to silence the opposing viewpoint with a threat
Ah yes the classic, I got this type of question wrong so many times that I was immediately able to pick the right answer. Before analyzing the answer, we should understand that the problem here is that the dean
twisted the words of the student rep.
Quote:
(A) challenging the student representative’s knowledge of the process by which the student was expelled
nope, the dean did not challenge or anything of the sort. Furthermore, the rep's knowing of the process is irrelevant.
Quote:
(B) invoking a fallacious distinction between speech and other sorts of behavior
other sorts of behavior? what is it talking about? there is no such detail.
Quote:
(C) misdescribing the student representative’s position, thereby making it easier to challenge
bingo.
misdescribing here means
twisting, or misinterpreting. Bingo.
Quote:
(D) questioning the motives of the student representative rather than offering reasons for the conclusion defended
nope, the dean didn't question anything, the dean just twisted the words.
Quote:
(E) relying on a position of power to silence the opposing viewpoint with a threat
"silience"!? woah, calm down, the dean did not silence anybody, although it did sound like a dictatorship if it were true.
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