Q14 - Waller: If there were really

[Laura Damone]

What does the Question Stem tell us?
2 speakers who disagree = Point of Disagreement Question. Keep in mind that BOTH PARTIES must have a concrete opinion on an answer for it to be correct.

Break down the Stimulus:
Waller: ESP real --> Accepted as real by the general public. That's because ESP-havers could show there stuff and convince the public, getting some wealth and renown as they do it.

Chin: Nothing can be proven to some skeptics. If the elite don't think ESP is real, the media won't portray it as real and public opinion won't think it's real.

Any prephrase?
Both deal with public opinion, ESP and it's likelihood of being real. These are all likely to feature in the correct answer.

Correct answer:
D

Answer choice analysis:
A) Neither has a concrete opinion on this.

B) Chin is a definite "no" on this. He states that you can never convince them all. But Waller...we just don't know. He thinks you can convince "the general public" but that doesn't imply every single person.

C) Waller doesn't address the case made by ESP skeptics, and as soon as 1 party doesn't have a concrete opinion on an answer, you know it's wrong.

D) Waller definitely agrees with this. It's the contrapositive of his first statement. Chin definitely disagrees. He argues that public opinion is always going to be biased and therefore an unreliable gauge.

E) If anything, both parties seem to imply that this is not the case, making this a point of agreement, not disagreement.

Takeaway/Pattern: Find the overlap between speakers and don't pick an answer unless both speakers have weighed in concretely!

#officialexplanation

[ssbrooks5]

I do not understand why the answer to this question is D. I chose B which seems like a better answer to me. Waller says that if someone has extrasensory powers, then they would be able to clearly demonstrate and convince the public of this. Chin, on the other hand, says that nothing can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of all skeptics. To me, B sounds like the point of disagreement. Can you please explain why the answer is D please! Thank you!

[ilona11223344]

(b) is not something that Waller would agree - he just says that extrasensory perception would be accepted by the GENERAL public - which is not the same as saying ALL SKEPTICS

on the other hand, (D) is something that Waller would say "yes' to and Chin would say "no" to

[noah]

(B) is quite tempting for this question!

Waller's argument is that if ESP were real - implying it's not - then it would be generally accepted - implying it hasn't been. Or, you could think of Waller's point as "public not believe in ESP --> ESP not real")

Chin responds by pointing out that since the cultural elite are closed-minded about ESP, then the popular media will be, and thus public opinion will be in favor of the skeptics who don't believe in ESP.

Chin's response basically gives an explanation for the lack of public acceptance. So, "public not believe in ESP --> ?"

(D) is something they would disagree about. Waller would say that it's true, while Chin would note that the lack of public acceptance may be a result of those closed-minded elites!

The key to this question is to note that Chin is only critiquing Waller's interpretation of the public not accepting ESP.

(A) is tempting, but we only know Waller's opinion of this. Chin might agree that ESP is not real, but still critique Waller's argument construction.

(B) is something that Chin would definitely agree with, but we're not sure about Waller. Waller discusses the general public, which is broad

(C) is a statement that Waller would probably disagree with, but we don't know what Chin would say. Chin focuses on what it means that the public is skeptical, not whether those skeptics are correct.

(E) is something that Waller would disagree with, but we have no idea about Chin.

[t_wm]

Can we find other reasons to eliminate (B)?

Since even which Waller states is broader, general public includes all skeptics; therefore, this doesn't violate Waller's agreement.

Thank you.

[shirando21]

Is it because Waller did not talk about "demonstrated to the satisfaction of"?

Also, after reviewing this conversation again, I found the existence of extrasensory perception is more like a main point/issue than if extrasensory perception is demonstratable or not. Can we use the main point strategy in this question?

If anyone could take a look and explain, that would be greatly appreciated.

[joseph.m.kirby]

Waller: IF ESP was real, the public would have generally accepted it.
Assumption: Public acceptance is a good indication if ESP is real.

Chin: One cannot satisfy all skeptics. Due to certain factors, the public will always be biased in favor of the skeptics.
Assumption: Whether or not ESP is real, public acceptance may not be a good indication.

(A) Incorrect. The argument is about what would be a good indicator of ESP's existence. We don't know the official beliefs of Waller or Chin on this issue.
(B) Incorrect. We don't know Waller's view on skeptics, so we don't know if Waller would agree or disagree with this point.
(C) Waller doesn't mention skeptics, so we don't know Waller's particular view related to skeptics.
(D) Correct. See the assumptions above.
(E) Incorrect. They are arguing about the public's view and not necessarily whether ESP is real.

[shirando21]

(B) is quite tempting for this question!

Waller's argument is that if ESP were real - implying it's not - then it would be generally accepted - implying it hasn't been. Or, you could think of Waller's point as "public not believe in ESP --> ESP not real")

Chin responds by pointing out that since the cultural elite are closed-minded about ESP, then the popular media will be, and thus public opinion will be in favor of the skeptics who don't believe in ESP.

Chin's response basically gives an explanation for the lack of public acceptance. So, "public not believe in ESP --> ?"

(D) is something they would disagree about. Waller would say that it's true, while Chin would note that the lack of public acceptance may be a result of those closed-minded elites!

The key to this question is to note that Chin is only critiquing Waller's interpretation of the public not accepting ESP.

(A) is tempting, but we only know Waller's opinion of this. Chin might agree that ESP is not real, but still critique Waller's argument construction.

(B) is something that Chin would definitely agree with, but we're not sure about Waller. Waller discusses the general public, which is broad

(C) is a statement that Waller would probably disagree with, but we don't know what Chin would say. Chin focuses on what it means that the public is skeptical, not whether those skeptics are correct.

(E) is something that Waller would disagree with, but we have no idea about Chin.

Now I understand W is talking about general public, B is talking about skeptics. that's why.

[huitungsing]

I am not convinced that choice D is the right answer. There is why.

(ESP=extrasensory perception, Demo=demostrate, Con=convince)

Walter: ESP --> Demo --> Con
Contrapositive: ~Con --> ~Demo --> ~ESP

Ok, We can use this to say that Walter would agree with Choice D, which is "failure of the general public to believe in extrasensory perception is good evidence against ESP"

However for Chin: ~Demo --> Biased.

IMO, we cannot use Chin's statement to say "~Con --> ESP", which is needed by Choice D. Because we need to assume "~Con --> Demo" (which is stated by Waller BUT NOT Chin). Secondly, we need to assume that Biased will result in ESP.

What is wrong with my thinking? Please comment thanks

[stol1989]

HI huitungsing, I think I can see where is you trouble:)

Walter: ESP --> Demo --> Con

IMO, we cannot use Chin's statement to say "~Con --> ESP", which is needed by Choice D

So you thinking that if Walter's position is:
~Con-->~ESP
then the only way to disagree with it is
~Con-->ESP

But this is not true. You are thinking of extreme degree of disagreement.

Waller says that failure of general public to believe in ESP is good evidence against its existence.

~Con-->~ESP

Chin says that public opinion is not a good indicator of ESP because it depends on critics' opinion and critics are closed-minded to ESP.

So even if such a thing like ESP does exist, skeptics are closed-minded to it and public opinion is in favor of such skeptics.

In other word he says that it is possible that

[~Con] and [ESP]

can exist together.

How can we disprove conditional statement A-->B?
We need to show that A can exist without B. That is exactly what Chin did.

[kjjida9797]

Hi, I was just wondering where does Waller assert that extrasensory perception does not exist. I've been reading it over and over again and I can't find any place which Waller explicitly or implicitly implies that extrasensory exist.

Please help,

[ying_yingjj]

Not convinced with D either. Poorly written question.

Only 28% of the test takers got this correct. Obviously not bc of the questions was too smart, just bc the answer is not convincing.

[maria487]

I was between B and D on this question, but upon thorough review, it it clear why D is the correct answer.

Waller is essentially arguing that if ESP is real, then the general public would believe that it is real.
Chin is saying that because there are skeptic and it is impossible to convince all skeptics of anything--in this case, ESP--the public will believe what the skeptics believe--that ESP does not exist.

So, when you distill these arguments to their core, Waller is saying public will accept ESP if it is in fact real; Chin is saying the public will not accept ESP until skeptics accept ESP.

B does not touch on this issue at all. B is concerned with if ESP could be proved true to all skeptics, which is actually not what either argument is talking about; if anything, Chin says that you can prove nothing to the satisfaction of all skeptics (ESP included), so he disagrees with this. And we don't know anything about Waller's opinion on this because his argument is not concerned with this.

D is correct because its gets into the issue of what is/isn't good evidence for ESP. Waller would agree with D: if the general public doesn't believe in ESP, it means that it doesn't exist. Chin would disagree with D: public opinion is not an accurate gauge for ESP, because public opinion is influenced by skeptics. ESP could exist, but if skeptics don't believe in it neither does the general public. So, it could exist without acceptance from the general public.

Though B is very tempting, but it doesn't address what the disagreement is all about!

[M.M.]

"C) Waller doesn't address the case made by ESP skeptics, and as soon as 1 party doesn't have a concrete opinion on an answer, you know it's wrong."

Waller's statements seemed to imply that he was an ESP skeptic. He basically says that "if there were really such a thing as ESP, then X, Y, Z" which seems to put him firmly in the camp of ESP skeptics. If he is in the camp of ESP skeptics, then he obviously does not believe that skeptics of ESP have a weak case, right?

I didn't end up choosing this answer, but I can't exactly eliminate it, either.

[EstherK615]

I understand why B is wrong, but I don't quite understand what (D) is stating. "the failure of the general public to believe in esp is good evidence against its existence"...what does this mean???