Philosopher: I have been told that most university students have no

Question

Philosopher: I have been told that most university students have no interest in philosophical issues, but I know from my own experience that this isn't true. I often go to University campuses to give talks, and the students at my talks have a deep interest in philosophical issues.

The reasoning in the argument is flawed in that the argument:

(A) Uses the term "interest" in two different ways when the argument requires that it be used consistently throughout

(B) Treats a group as representative of a larger group when there is a reason to believe it is unrepresentative

(C) Appeals to the popularity of an academic field as evidence of the worth of that academic field

(D) Takes for granted that just because there is no evidence that interest in something is decreasing, it must be increasing

(E) Takes for granted that it is good that University students have an interest in a certain subject just because the person making the argument has that interest

Skywalker18 · Answer

Philosopher: I have been told that most university students have no interest in philosophical issues, but I know from my own experience that this isn't true. I often go to University campuses to give talks, and the students at my talks have a deep interest in philosophical issues.

The reasoning in the argument is flawed in that the argument:

(A) Uses the term "interest" in two different ways when the argument requires that it be used consistently throughout- incorrect, 'interest' is not used in two different ways

(B) Treats a group as representative of a larger group when there is a reason to believe it is unrepresentative - Correct, The philosopher makes a claim about most university students based on a narrow subset, which might not even be representative

(C) Appeals to the popularity of an academic field as evidence of the worth of that academic field - irrelevant

(D) Takes for granted that just because there is no evidence that interest in something is decreasing, it must be increasing - incorrect

(E) Takes for granted that it is good that University students have an interest in a certain subject just because the person making the argument has that interest- incorrect; the students who attend the philosophers' lectures do have interest

Answer B

bhalashreya · Answer

For ans choice B i didnot understand the second part of the statement - "when there is a reason to believe it is unrepresentative" - what in the argument is showing that there is "reason" to believe its unrepresentative?

yc168 · Answer

This is called self-selection bias. The students who choose to go to the talk already have interest in Philosophical issues, and is only a subset of the whole student body.

The wording might be a tiny little bit too strong when answer choice B says "there is reason to believe it's unrepresentative". But all the other choices can be eliminated by POE, and B is still relatively a better choice.

guddo · Answer

Philosopher: I have been told that most university students have no interest in philosophical issues, but I know from my own experience that this isn't true. I often go to University campuses to give talks, and the students at my talks have a deep interest in philosophical issues.
 
 The reasoning in the argument is flawed in that the argument:

The philosopher rejects a claim about most university students by using evidence from students who attend philosophy talks. But students who choose to attend such talks are likely already interested in philosophy.  The sample is biased , so it cannot reliably represent  university students in general .

(A) Uses the term "interest" in two different ways when the argument requires that it be used consistently throughout

Wrong. “Interest” is used consistently. The problem is not word meaning.

(B) Treats a group as representative of a larger group when there is a reason to believe it is unrepresentative

Correct. Students who attend philosophy talks are not likely to represent most university students. They are a self-selected group already inclined to be interested in philosophical issues.

(C) Appeals to the popularity of an academic field as evidence of the worth of that academic field

Wrong. The argument is about whether students are interested in philosophy, not whether philosophy is valuable.

(D) Takes for granted that just because there is no evidence that interest in something is decreasing, it must be increasing

Wrong. The argument does not discuss whether interest is increasing or decreasing.

(E) Takes for granted that it is good that University students have an interest in a certain subject just because the person making the argument has that interest

Wrong. The philosopher is not arguing that student interest is good. The philosopher is arguing that such interest exists.

Answer: (B)

Philosopher: I have been told that most university students have no

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Philosopher: I have been told that most university students have no

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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