AWA Argument Deconstruction 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An argument says: 'Our competitor's profits fell after they switched suppliers, so we should not switch suppliers.' This reasoning primarily assumes:
- The competitor and our company are similar enough that the same outcome would occur (Correct answer)
- Suppliers are the most important factor in profitability
- Profits always depend on supply costs
- The competitor made no other changes at the same time
Correct answer: The competitor and our company are similar enough that the same outcome would occur
The argument assumes the two companies are comparable, but differences could invalidate the analogy.
Question 2: When an AWA argument moves from a specific case to a broad generalization without sufficient evidence, it commits:
- Equivocation
- Hasty generalization (Correct answer)
- Circular reasoning
- Appeal to authority
Correct answer: Hasty generalization
Hasty generalization draws a broad conclusion from too few or unrepresentative examples.
Question 3: Which of the following would most effectively address the assumption in this argument: 'Employees who work remotely are less productive, as shown by their fewer hours logged in our system'?
- Remote workers report higher job satisfaction
- Hours logged may not accurately measure productivity output (Correct answer)
- Remote work policies vary across departments
- The monitoring system was installed last year
Correct answer: Hours logged may not accurately measure productivity output
If logged hours are a poor proxy for productivity, the evidence does not support the conclusion.
Question 4: An argument claims: 'Violent video games must cause aggression because teens who play them report feeling more aggressive.' The main flaw is:
- Teens are unreliable reporters
- Correlation is mistaken for causation; aggressive teens may prefer violent games (Correct answer)
- Video games have not been studied enough
- Aggression is normal in teenagers
Correct answer: Correlation is mistaken for causation; aggressive teens may prefer violent games
The direction of causality is unclear; pre-existing aggression may lead to game choice rather than the reverse.
Question 5: What does it mean to 'steelman' an argument before deconstructing it in an AWA context?
- Find the weakest version of the argument to easily refute it
- Present the strongest possible version of the argument before critiquing it (Correct answer)
- Add statistics to make the argument sound stronger
- Agree with the argument's conclusion
Correct answer: Present the strongest possible version of the argument before critiquing it
Steelmanning means charitably reconstructing the argument at its strongest before identifying its flaws.
Question 6: An AWA argument that relies on anecdotal evidence is most vulnerable to which critique?
- Anecdotes are difficult to verify
- A single story may not represent the broader pattern (Correct answer)
- Personal accounts are always biased
- Anecdotes should be replaced with expert opinions
Correct answer: A single story may not represent the broader pattern
Anecdotal evidence may be unrepresentative, making generalization to a wider population unreliable.
Question 7: Which revision would most strengthen a weak AWA argument claiming that a city's new bike lanes reduced traffic congestion?
- Add more adjectives to describe the bike lanes
- Include traffic data from before and after installation, controlling for other variables (Correct answer)
- Note that residents like the bike lanes
- Mention that other cities have also built bike lanes
Correct answer: Include traffic data from before and after installation, controlling for other variables
Before-and-after data with controls provides the empirical evidence needed to establish a causal relationship.
AWA Argument Deconstruction 5
An argument says: 'Our competitor's profits fell after they switched suppliers, so we should not switch suppliers.' This reasoning primarily assumes: