People who take what others regard as a ridiculous position should not

Question

People who take what others regard as a ridiculous position should not bother to say, “I mean every word!” For either their position truly is ridiculous, in which case insisting that they are serious about it only exposes them to deeper embarrassment, or else their position has merit, in which case they should meet disbelief with rational argument rather than with assurances of their sincerity.

Which one of the following arguments is most similar in its reasoning to the argument above?

(A) A practice that has been denounced as a poor practice should not be defended on the grounds that “this is how we have always done it.” If the practice is a poor one, so much the worse that it has been extensively used; if it is not a poor one, there must be a better reason for engaging in it than inertia.

(B) People who are asked why they eat some of the unusual foods they eat should not answer, “because that is what I like.” This sort of answer will sound either naive or evasive and thus will satisfy no one.

(C) People whose taste in clothes is being criticized should not reply, “Every penny I spent on these clothes I earned honestly.” For the issue raised by the critics is not how the money was come by but rather whether it was spent wisely.

(D) Scholars who champion unpopular new theories should not assume that the widespread rejection of their ideas shows that they “must be on the right track.” The truth is that few theories of any consequence are either wholly right or wholly wrong and thus there is no substitute for patient work in ascertaining which parts are right.

(E) People who set themselves goals that others denounce as overly ambitious do little to silence their critics if they say, “I can accomplish this if anyone can.” Rather, those people should either admit that their critics are right or not dignify the criticism with any reply.

Legendaddy · Accepted Answer

(A)The first step in this Parallel Reasoning question is to abstract from the specifics of the stimulus. In general terms, the stimulus provides a case in which a statement uttered in response to a particular situation is attacked as an ineffectual response; there are only two possible scenarios, and both expose the futility of the statement (if the original position is wrong, the given response would make matters look worse; if the position is right; the response does nothing to prove it). The parallel choice we’re looking for should therefore show that a given response shouldn’t be used because, whether the party under attack is right or wrong, the response is ineffective. We don’t have to look far. (A) says that when a practice has been denounced, it shouldn’t be defended by saying, “this is how we’ve always done it.” The reason for this is exactly parallel to the original’s “lose-lose” element: if the practice is a poor one, the response makes matters look even worse; if the practice is wise, the answer doesn’t provide good support for it. (A) fits the stimulus form to a T.

(B) Unlike the stimulus, there’s no issue of the initial opinion being right or wrong. Instead of being presented with two cases where a person who eats strange foods is wrong or right to do so, we’re given two ways the response will sound unsatisfying.

(C) also begins with a response people shouldn’t make, but instead of showing why the justification is pointless in the cases of the person being right and being wrong, the argument attacks the response for avoiding the issue.

(D) again fails to show why the scholars’ response is no good whether they are right or wrong, implying instead that they are probably partly right and partly wrong.

(E) fails because it recommends two better ways of responding (admission of error or silence), whereas the stimulus was primarily interested in describing why the original response was no good whether the original statement was right or wrong.

metallicafan · Answer

+1 A

The key in this type of questions is that you have to make an abstraction of the relationships among the parts of the argument.
In other words, traduce in your words and in abstract terms what is happening in the original argument.
In this case:
If someone criticize you, don't say "X", because if they are right they will think you are dumb. If you 're right, there is a better argument than "X".

I think I deserve kudos

unraveled · Answer

People who take what others regard as a ridiculous position  should not bother  to say, “I mean every word!” For  either their position truly is  ridiculous, in which case  insisting  that they are serious about it  only exposes  them to deeper embarrassment,  or else their position has  merit, in which case they  should meet disbelief  with rational argument  rather than with assurances  of their sincerity.

Which one of the following arguments is most similar in its reasoning to the argument above?

(A) A practice that has been denounced as a poor practice should not be defended on the grounds that “this is how we have always done it.” If the practice is a poor one, so much the worse that it has been extensively used; if it is not a poor one,  there must be a better reason for  engaging in it than inertia. - CORRECT. 'Must be a better reason' is somewhat equal to 'rational argument', not sure how.

(B) People who are asked why they eat some of the unusual foods they eat should not answer, “because that is what I like.” This sort of answer will  sound either naive or evasive  and  thus will satisfy no one.  - WRONG. Changes the direction from defender's point of view.

(C) People whose taste in clothes is being criticized should not reply, “Every penny I spent on these clothes I earned honestly.” For the issue raised by the critics is not how the money was come by  but rather whether it was spent wisely.  - WRONG. Changes the context of the passage.

(D) Scholars who champion unpopular new theories  should not assume that  the widespread rejection of their ideas shows that they “must be on the right track.” The truth is that few theories of any consequence are either wholly right or wholly wrong and thus  there is no substitute for patient work  in ascertaining which parts are right. - WRONG. Altogether changes the structure.

(E) People who set themselves goals that others denounce as overly ambitious do little to silence their critics if they say, “I can accomplish this if anyone can.” Rather, those people  should either admit  that their critics are right or  not dignify the criticism  with any reply. - WRONG. Trap as it uses first person approach to disguise.

It was between A and E.

Answer A.

KarishmaB · Answer

Original Argument of the author: When facing criticism on an allegedly ‘ridiculous’ position, people should not say “I mean every word.” - If the position is ridiculous, it causes more embarrassment and worsens the situation. - If the position is meritorious, they should use rational argument. So the argument suggests staying away from saying something when faced with criticism. It then suggests a better course in case of either possible situation – the position is actually ridiculous or the position is meritorious. We need an option with a similar structure. (A) A practice that has been denounced as a poor practice should not be defended on the grounds that “this is how we have always done it.” If the practice is a poor one, so much the worse that it has been extensively used; if it is not a poor one, there must be a better reason for engaging in it than inertia. This is the structure of this argument. When denounced on an allegedly ‘poor’ practice, people should not say “this is how we have always done it.” - If the practice is poor, it’s worse that it has been so used. - If the practice is good, they should use better rationale to justify it It matches the structure of our original argument. Correct. (B) People who are asked why they eat some of the unusual foods they eat should not answer, “because that is what I like.” This sort of answer will sound either naive or evasive and thus will satisfy no one. First, there is no criticism here. The people are just ‘asked’ why they eat unusual foods. So, the better course of action is not discussed in the two possible scenarios. Hence, this is not correct. (C) People whose taste in clothes is being criticized should not reply, “Every penny I spent on these clothes I earned honestly.” For the issue raised by the critics is not how the money was come by but rather whether it was spent wisely. Though there is a criticism here, there is no discussion on better course of action in two scenarios. (D) Scholars who champion unpopular new theories should not assume that the widespread rejection of their ideas shows that they “must be on the right track.” The truth is that few theories of any consequence are either wholly right or wholly wrong and thus there is no substitute for patient work in ascertaining which parts are right. The point of the original argument is how not to handle yourself in front of others and why. The point of this argument is how to handle your own self better. (E) People who set themselves goals that others denounce as overly ambitious do little to silence their critics if they say, “I can accomplish this if anyone can.” Rather, those people should either admit that their critics are right or not dignify the criticism with any reply. We do have the first part of our original argument here. When denounced on an allegedly ‘overambitious’ goal, people should not say “I can accomplish this if anyone can.” But we do not have what they should do if the goal is actually overambitious and if the goal is justified. Hence this is not correct. Answer (A) Discussion on Mimic Questions: https://youtu.be/dHU17plF2mc

People who take what others regard as a ridiculous position should not

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People who take what others regard as a ridiculous position should not

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